Team NAVJ
by Vikasa
Summary: This alternate telling of the story of "RWBY" features a new team of students willing to show what they've got at Beacon Academy. Consisting of a seemingly human swordsman, a red haired dual swordswoman, a purple haired girl with a metal arm, and a golden eyed boy with a point to prove, they'll find their paths, make new relationships, and kick butt along the way! ((CANCELLED))
1. That Fateful Night

**Full Disclosure: I DO NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum, may he rest in peace. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.**

 **"Blah"= Spoken**

 _'Blah'_ **Thoughts**

 **Lastly, if you end up not being that into this fanfic, then let me point you to another one called "Team AMBR: Finding Redemption" by Mojo1586. In my opinion, it's _really_ good and it's honestly my favorite RWBY fanfiction.**

 **And with that out of the way, let's get started!!**

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 _\--Jin Tang Lung--_

 ** _(A Decade Prior)_**

 _"...FREAK!"_

 _"No way a human can be that strong without a Semblance!"_

 _"I bet he's a Faunus in disguise!"_

 _"He must get that disgusting viciousness from_ _his parents.."_

 _"And those revolting eyes of his.."_

 _"You don't belong here!"_

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 _ **(Present Day)**_

 _"..geez..._ those memories feel old but fresh at the same time..pain in the ass..." I complained to myself, rubbing the nape of my neck gingerly. I sighed exaggeratively as I walked while rubbing my eyes. It's been 10 years since those days and I've moved from my homeland, a small town outside of the Kingdoms, to the Kingdom of Vale, living specifically in the city of...Vale...I was confused by it at first, but I eventually learned to just not think about it too much. Anyways, I've been living in Vale for about a month now, but, unfortunately, I seem to be a magnet for trouble, with the amount of situations I've gotten involved in.

For example...

The time I got involved a bar fight alongside a blonde who was, quite literally, _on fire._

The time I accidentally got involved on a train robbery in Forever Fall and nearly lost my head to a White Fang member.

The time I had to fight my way through a ton of suited goons after stumbling onto a robbery on accident.

And so, _soo_ many more incidents that, for the most part, got me involved by pure accident or coincidence...okay, I got involved in the bar fight of my own accord, but _everything else_ wasn't my fault!

This time, I had gotten mixed up in a... _messy_ situation. Long story short, the authorities were now looking for a spiky black haired teenager with a blue scarf tied around his neck.

In order to avoiding getting caught by the police, I'd been running across rooftops and I eventually lost the police. As I ran though, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and stopped, just so I could look at it more clearly. _'What now?'_

"End of the line, Red!" A man shouted from inside an airship. Standing in front of said airship on a rooftop as was a girl with black hair the gradated to red at the ends of her hair, wielding a giant red scythe. Immediately, I had several questions. _'Am I seeing things? Is that an airship? Is that Roman Torchwick? Does that girl have a giant scythe?'_ The man, who I identified as Roman Torchwick, then threw what looked like a Dust crystal at the girl, setting off an alarm in my head.

With a sharp exhale, I lept onto the building and dashed towards the girl, preparing myself to fight, only for Roman to shoot the Dust crystal, causing it to explode. Roman began to laugh manically, but soon grimaced silently...the girl wasn't hurt, much to everyone's surprise.

In front of the girl, shielding her from the explosion, was a large light purple glyph, summoned by a woman with light blonde hair tied into a tight bun and light green eyes, wearing a long-sleeved, white, pleated top, a high waisted black skirt, black boots, and a black cape with a purple interior. _'Hold on, is that...Glynda Goodwitch?!'_ My eyes moderately widened in alarm as I recognized the Huntress. Goodwitch then fired off several purple lasers, all hitting the airship while it was in the air. Roman then went into the airship and it began to tilt away from the building.

Goodwitch then used her weapon, a riding crop, to create a glyph above the airship, creating a large dark cloud that rained ice shards stabbing the airship.

Then someone else came out and stood in the opening of the airship, a shadow covering their upper half, though I could tell it was a woman. What the shadow didn't cover revealed a red dress with a flower decoration on the side, black heels, a red insignia running up both arms and on woman's chest, and one eye burning like fire within the shadow's darkness.

The woman began to charge up some kind of flame attack before shooting fire from her hand towards Goodwitch, though she managed to block it with a glyph. Though, much to our surprise, she somehow heated the glass at Goodwitch's feet, leading to an explosion which Goodwitch dodged with a backflip. Thinking quickly, Goodwitch used the debris and made it into an spear with her Semblance, launching it towards the mystery woman.

The woman fired more flames towards the spear, causing it to break apart, but then it reconstructed because of Goodwitch's Semblance. Goodwitch tried to strike the airship again with the spear, but the ship tilted enough so that the spear only scraped the roof of the airship.

Goodwitch quickly split the spear into 3 separate ones, in another attempt to hit the airship. _'Jeez, sometimes I forget just how good the pros are...'_ I thought to myself with a nervous smile, laugh lightly. Though Goodwitch's attack failed again, as the woman on the airship created an immense heat pulse, annihilating the debris Goodwitch was controlling.

"Shit, this is intense!" I exclaimed, pausing for a bit before realizing I had just made my prescence known to everyone there. "Um...hi?" I waved nervously with a weak smile. Though, before anyone could say anything, I noticed the woman's eye seemingly widen before she, seemingly angrily, swiped her hand to the side.

I quickly noticed a light building beneath my feet, though I was quickly thrown out of the way by Goodwitch before an explosion occurred where I previously stood.

While we were distracted, the ship flew away, leaving the three of us in a somewhat...awkward situation.

"You're a Huntress!" The girl exclaimed cheerfully, Goodwitch replying with silence, "Can I have your autograph?" While they were talking with one another, I began to slowly tip toe away, being careful not to make any noise.

"...and where exactly are _you_ going?" Goodwitch asked firmly. I knew it was for me, since I could practically feel her glaring through the back of my skull.

"...To buy some Dust?"

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"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady." Goodwitch stated firmly as she paced back and forth. The girl, who's name I learned was Ruby Rose on the way here, and I were seated behind a metal table in an otherwise empty room, with one only light hanging from the ceiling. "You put yourself and others in great danger."

"They started it!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yeah!" I joined in, though I quickly backed off as Goodwitch gave me a stern glare, "sorry."

"And _you_. Why were you just standing there while a battle was occurring?" Goodwitch asked with a glare. _'Is she physically capable of smiling? Or at least not glaring?'_

"Oh, well, I guess I just sorta froze up..haha..." I laughed nervously as I scratched my cheek with a finger.

"If it were up to me, you two would be sent home..." Goodwitch walked around to the front of the table while holding her Scroll and her riding crop, "with a pat on the back..." Both Ruby and I perked up, a smile on her face, though I had a different reason. _'Wait for it...' "_...and a slap on the wrist!" Goodwitch said firmly before slapping the table with her riding crop. _'And there it is.'_

"Eeek!" Ruby backed awayin her chair in fear.

"But...there is someone here who'd like to meet you two." Goodwitch said calmly, surprising the both of us. _'I get why someone should wanna see Ruby, but why me?...wait, is it the police?!'_ I thought in alarm. Goodwitch then moved to the side and a man stepped through the door, a plate full of cookies in his right hand and a coffee mug in his left, to my relief. He had silver hair, brown eyes, and wore shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the green cowl around his neck. _'I think I've heard of him too..I think his name was...Ozpin?_

"Ruby Rose..." The man, who's name I just assumed was Ozpin for lack of any other guess, moved closer to Ruby, "You...have silver eyes."

"Um.." Ruby began, but Ozpin then moved to me.

"And you, Jin Tang Lung...have golden eyes." I only replied by tilting my head in confusion. "So!" Ozpin pulled back, with Goodwitch holding her Scroll, showing footage of Ruby fighting a bunch of suited men. Although, rather than "fighting", I'd prefer to call it her "dishing a beatdown", considering the suited men didn't stand a chance. _'She's surprisingly good, though I could definitely beat her..'_ "Where did you learn to do this?"

"S-Signal Academy." Ruby answered nervously.

"They taught you to use one of the deadliest weapons ever designed?" Ozpin asked.

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see." Ozpin placed the cookies onto the table, prompting Ruby to eat one...and then just proceed to devour all of them one by one, each one disappearing as soon as they entered her mouth. "It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before." Ozpin then looked off to the side for a moment, "A dusty, old crow."

"Mmmm!" Ruby exclaimed with her mouth full, "Thash muh unkul!" Ozpin gave her a look, prompting Ruby to quickly swallow and brush her mouth with her sleeve, "Sorry, that's my Uncle Qrow!" I sighed on the inside. ' _Great_ _-first I meet Glynda Goodwitch, now I find someone related to Qrow Branwen? What's next, I see a Schnee?!' "_ He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now I'm all like-- Hooowaaah! Witchaaa!"

So I've noticed." Ozpin said before sipping some of his coffee, "and then, there's you, Mr. Tang Lung."

"What about me?" I asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Would you care to explain how you learned to do this?" To my surprise, Goodwitch had pulled up a video of me fighting several armed suited goons members barehanded, quickly disarming and defeating some, and just flat out beating others without disarming them, all without taking a single hit. "I don't know many who can fight with such skill without the use of a single weapon in this day and age."

"Oh...well, I've never been good with any kind of weapon aside from myself, so, I figured, 'Why bother'?" I shrugged my shoulders as I said the last two words, "if I've got something I'm terrible at and something I'm already really good at, I might as well focus on the latter."

"I see..." Ozpin placed his coffee mug onto the table, turning his attention to Ruby again, "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well...I want to be a Huntress." Ruby said in a more determined voice.

"You want to slay monsters?" Ozpin asked

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, "I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!'. I mean, the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic, and exciting, and--JAAAH, you know!" Ruby's ecstatic nature already had me interested, but Goodwitch just frowned.

"She's not exactly wrong, y'know." I said with a smile and a shrug, giving Ruby a high five immediately after I spoke.

"And do _you_ strive to become a Hunstman as well, Mr. Tang Lung?" Ozpin directed his attention towards me.

"..well, yeah, but not entirely for the same reasons as her." I nodded my head towards Ruby, "sure, I wanna protect people and keep the world safe from Grimm. And I'd also rather be a Huntsman than a member of the police...but, I also want to prove a point."

"And that is?"

"That even people as..powerless, as me can grow to be strong enough to stand tall as a Huntsman, or Huntress." I said with a smile, though I seemed to confuse Ruby and Glynda with my statement. _'They don't get why I called myself powerless..'_ To my surprise though, Ozpin actually chuckled.

"...Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin." Ruby replied. _'So I **was** right! He is Ozpin.' _"You're the Headmaster of Beacon." Ozpin remained silent for a bit, smiling.

"Hello." Said Ozpin.

"Nice to meet you." Said Ruby.

"Nice to meetcha, Professor." I said.

"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked, leaning forward slightly.

"More than anything." Ruby replied.

"...um--"

"As for you, Mr. Tang Lung," I began to say something, though Ozpin quickly cut me off, "if you do truly wish to come to my school, I'll have the police drop the charges against you. After seeing footage of the incident, I'm certain you meant no harm when you spilled several gallons of juice onto those officers." I was left with my mouth open, almost preparing to ask how he knew before, I shook my head and gained a grin on my face.

"...in that case, I guess I'd like to go too!"

Ozpin looked at Goodwitch for a moment, though she simply rolled her eyes with a "hmmph".

"Well, okay." Ozpin replied, Ruby and I both gaining happy expressions on our faces.

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"Geez, what a day.." I commented with an exhale as I looked out the window of the airship, "I went from getting involved in a messy situation with the police, to sitting on an airship headed for Beacon Academy."

"Sounds like you've had a pretty rough day." A new voice spoke up to my left, causing me to look up. It was a boy with pale amber eyes and hair, wearing a blue short sleeved jacket, black pants, brown boots, black fingerless gloves, and a blue scarf lined with yellow around his neck. "On the bright side though, you're still alive and kicking, so that's good." He said with a grin.

"..fair enough." I said with a smile as I pushed on my knees, getting up off the floor, "the name's Jin by the way. Nice to meetcha."

"Nilo, Nilo Brenin. And right back at you!" Nilo lazily extended a fist towards me, offering a fist bump. After pausing for a second, I smiled and bumped his fist with mine.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon." I heard Goodwitch's voice on the airship. Looking to the direction where the voice came from, I saw a hologram of Goodwitch, standing with her hands behind her back, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsman and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." After she finished speaking, the hologram of Goodwitch disappeared, with several students moving towards the windows of the airship.

Nilo and I both turned around and looked out the window and saw the same sight as everyone else--Beacon Academy.

"Guess this place is my home now..." Nilo commented lightly as he looked to Beacon with somewhat sad eyes. Just from the look in his eyes, I could tell he was leaving something behind, and that it hurt him at least a little bit to do so. ' _Yeah man..I know the feeling...'_

I stood there for a little bit before shaking my head. _'No, stop thinking negatively. This is a new start for me...so let's show them what I can do!'_

 _ **The End**_

 _A/N: My first fanfiction! Woo! Not gonna lie--this chapter, in my opinion, is not going to be my favorite among the rest I'll publish. I'm not very good with beginnings. But, rest assured! I do have a lot planned for the future! I'm not sure about an update schedule but I'll try my best to pump out chapters as fast as possible. _

_But that may be a little difficult considering that I'm not too confident in my knowledge of_ _how this whole thing works (publishing chapters, title names, all that jazz)_

 _Either way, hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you all (by all I mean those who are still interested, obviously) in the next chapter!!_

 _(Also, plz don't leave reviews that basically just trash it, but plz kindly point out flaws so I can try to avoid them in the future)_


	2. Encounters

**Hello guys! Thank you for at least reading my story! I even noticed some people bookmarked it, so that's a confidence booster. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Full Disclosure: I DO NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum, may he rest in peace. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.**

"Blah" **= Spoken**

 _'Blah'_ **Thoughts**

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 _\--Jin Tang Lung--_

 _'So, Beacon Academy..'_ I thought to myself as a looked at the enormous school. I sighed, letting my shoulders drop. _'With my luck, I'll get lost on the first day.'_

"Geez, this place is huge!" Nilo exclaimed next to me, carrying a bag slung over his shoulder with one hand, the other in his pocket. "Way bigger than..."

"Home?" I asked with an eyebrow raised. Nilo paused for a moment before nodding silently.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It'll be hard to get used to..but things oughta work out?" I said with a shrug and a smile, causing Nilo to grin and sling an arm around my shoulder.

"Now that's an attitude I can appreciate!" He said with a cheery grin, causing me to gain a smile of my own, "well, I'm gonna go look for the bathroom. Guess this is goodbye for now."

"Agh, don't say 'goodbye'. That sounds so depressing!" I complained, "Think of it more like a 'see you later, maybe' kind of situation." Nilo chuckled a bit before nodding, patting me on the back, and leaving me in the courtyard, alone with my thoughts...well, alone _socially,_ at least. In reality, there was an ocean of students walking around, spread out in several areas of the courtyard.

' _Yeah, if I don't get help, I am_ definitely _gonna get lost..'_ I thought with a nervous laugh. Though my thoughts were quickly cut off as I heard a small explosion nearby, somewhat alarming me. _'Someone blew up already? The action came sooner than I expected..!'_

I ran over to where I heard the explosion come from. When I got there, I was strongly tempted to send a glare to the sky, directed at whatever god, or gods, who decided that my luck was something so fun to pick on.

"Oh, you've gotta be--"

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" A high pitched voice that just screamed "annoying princess" rang out. _'When I mentioned meeting a Schnee, I WAS F*G KIDDING!!'_

I'm really, really sorry!" I heard a familiar voice apologize, and saw a figure nervously pushing her index fingers together. _'Ruby?'_

Ugh! You complete, dolt!" The Schnee's insult to Ruby made me slightly clench my fists, "what are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" The Schnee leaned in towards Ruby, making her visibly nervous.

"Well...I..."

"Could you lay off her a little?" I finally spoke up, approaching the two of them, notably irritating the Schnee, though bringing a smile to Ruby's face.

"Excuse me?! And who exactly are--?!" Before the Schnee could finish, Ruby tackled me with a surprising amount of speed, leaving a trail of rose petals where she previously was.

"Jin!" Ruby exclaimed with comical tears streaming down her face.

"Now, now, Ruby, it's ok." I said while patting Ruby's head lightly, "the mean, little Ice Princess won't hurt you...I think.." My last remark made Ruby let a small yelp before hiding behind me.

"It's Heiress, actually." An all-too familiar voice spoke up, making me tense up slightly. I looked to my left, and saw a girl with black hair, yellow eyes, and a black bow approach us, with a red dust vial in her hand. _'The girl from the train..the bow's new, though...?'_ "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition!" The Schnee said with a smile, though I laughed silently.

"Yeah, for the family name..." I muttered, though I noticed the Schnee, now named Weiss, or Ice Princess for when I'd want to get a laugh, tense up slightly. _'Guess she heard me. Not that I care though.'_

The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." The black haired girl continued. The quick shift made me lose control for a moment and I let out a laugh before quickly covering my mouth.

"What-how dare--The nerve of--!" Ruby laughed lightly as Weiss stuttered. I just smiled though, having already surpressed the urge to laugh. With an "Ugh!", Weiss grabbed the dust vial from the black haired girl's hand and storm off.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby tried to tell Weiss, extending her hand in her direction. Ruby sighed, letting her shoulders drop. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day.."

"Yeah, you said it.." I said while disheveling my hair lightly.

"..So, what's--" Ruby had turned to ask the black haired girl a question, though she was already walking away by the time she turned around. By the time they both left, Ruby and I were the only ones in the courtyard, with the only thing missing being a tumbleweed, bouncing across the landscape.

Ruby slowly collapsed to the ground, waiting for a moment before laying down.

"Welcome to Beacon..." Ruby said depressingly.

"Ah, don't worry. Things'll get better." I tried to lift Ruby's spirit, though she only responded with a groan, causing me to sigh lightly.

"Hey..." A male voice spoke up near us, causing me to look up. It was the boy who'd been vomitting profusely while on the ship. He had blonde scraggly hair and wore a black hoodie with plates of armor on his chest, back, and and both his shoulders, "you guys look like you've been having a pretty rough day..."

"Yeah, guess you could say that." I replied with a chuckle, "I'm Jin, by the way."

"I'm Jaune." He said before extending a hand to help Ruby. Ruby sat up and smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"Ruby." She said before standing up with help from Jaune. Half a second passed before Ruby snickered into her hand. "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

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After that whole... _situation_ with Weiss and the black haired girl, who's name I can't remember for the life of me, Ruby, Jaune, and I had begun to walk around for a little bit, looking for... _'wait, where_ are _we supposed to go?!'_

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" Jaune's voice brought me out of my thoughts, showing me that I had apparently zoned out.

"Look, I'm sorry. Vomit-boy was the first thing that came to mind." Ruby apologized.

"Oh yeah, what if I called you 'Crater-face'?" Jaune's suggestion/question made us all go silent for a second.

"...I mean, it fits.." I added, Jaune and I earning a glare from Ruby. Though, a glare from Ruby just looked like a pout.

"Hey, that explosion was an accident!" Ruby exclaimed as she threw her hands downward.

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it!" Both Ruby and I raised a brow at Jaune's self-introduction.

"Do they?" Ruby asked skeptically with a smirk.

"They will." Jaune quickly responded in a nervous tone, "Well, I hope they will...I mean, my mom always says that...never mind."

"Well, I've heard that girls like guys with confidence, so you should probably just focus on that for now.." I commented trying to be supportive, though I honestly have no experience with girls in a romantic way.

"Yeah..confidence...I'll try that..." An awkward silence became evident between the three of us, causing me to rub the back of my neck.

"..so I got this thing." Ruby spoke up suddenly, before pulling out her transforming red scythe, letting the blade cut into the ground.

"Whoa!" Jaune exclaimed, though I just let out a wolf whistle, "is that a scythe?!"

"It's also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle." Ruby replied as she raised it to her side, cocking it.

"A wha-?" Jaune commented in confusion.

"It's also a gun, bud." I commented.

"Oh. That's cool!"

"So what've you got?" Ruby asked. I raised a brow at her question, also curious about Jaune's weapon. From what I could tell, it was a sword and a scabbard, but...that was it.

Just a sword and a scabbard. No hidden bazooka or shotgun attachment, no dust-utilizing mechanism, not even a detachable blade--just a sword and a gun. It was so plain that it stuck out to me. That, and Jaune's overall personality, led me to one of two conclusions. Either:

A) Jaune was secretly a badass whose coolness was hidden by his personality.

Or

B) Jaune was a novice who got accepted into Beacon by luck or lying.

Either way, Jaune was here now, and I'd find out later on.

"Oh-uh, I got this sword." Jaune said as he unsheathed his sword.

"Oooooooh." Said Ruby.

"Neat." I commented.

"Yeah, and I've got a shield too!" Jaune said as he got his scabbard, raised his arm, and expanded the metal in his defense.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asked as she touched the shield. Jaune fumbled with his his shield as it retracted off his arm, expanded, and retracted again before he put in back in place and finally shrunk it down for good, placing it on his belt.

"The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just...put it away..." Jaune elaborated.

"But...wouldn't it weigh the same?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, it does..." Jaune replied dejectedly.

"Well, I'm kind of a for when it comes to weapons, sooo...I gues I did go a little overboard when designing it." Ruby said with a giggle, eliciting a surprised expression from both Jaune and I.

"Wait-you _made_ that?!" Jaune and I both asked, though I wasn't as shocked as Jaune. More like mildly interested.

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune explained. _'Well, that explains why his weapon isn't also a gun, at least. Still, I gotta admit, to a guy like me that uses purely martial arts, seeing an older weapon like that is refreshing in all honesty..'_

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" Said Ruby with a laugh, "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah, the classics..." Jaune said as he sheathed his sword, "..so, what's your weapon, Jin?"

"Huh?...oh..well, that's the thing.." Jaune tilted his head slightly while I spoke, "I kinda...don't have one." I finished with a nervous smile.

"Wait, you mean you applied for Beacon academy and you don't even have a weapon?!" Jaune's surprised response/outburst surprised me to the point where I actually jolted a little.

"Well, first of all, I didn't apply here--I took a deal. I got into some...trouble with the police, WHICH WAS NOT ENTIRELY MY FAULT," my emphasis on the last part had noticeably caught Ruby off guard, making her jump a little in surprised as she let out a yelp, "and said that if I came to Beacon, he'd get the charges dropped. Besides, it's not like I can't hold my own against people with weapons like Ruby's." I finished with a shrug.

"Oh...well, ok then." Said Jaune.

"...so why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?" Ruby asked, once again being the one to break the awkward silence when it appeared.

"Eh, why not? My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet'." Said Jaune.

"Hmm" Ruby hummed as she looked around, "hey, where are we going?"

"...wait, you don't know?" I asked, a little worried. Ruby shook her head, causing me to look at Jaune, who just backed away slightly with his hands raised to his chest.

"Hey, don't look at me! I was just following you guys!" Jaune exclaimed, "Y-you think there might be a directory? Maybe a foodcourt? Some kind of recognizable landmark? Is uh...is that a 'no'?"

"That's a 'no'." Ruby said with a laugh, though I was palming my face on the inside. _'I knew I'd get lost, but not with other people!'_

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After walking around for a while, we _finally_ found the place where we were supposed to go--the Auditorium. By the time we got there, it was almost completely filled to the brim with students. At the moment, one of my main thoughts was wondering what happened to Nilo after we'd separated, considering all I knew was that he went to go look for the john.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" I heard a voice call out to my red hooded friend. _'Huh? That voice...sounds oddly familiar..?'_

"..Jin! Over here!" I heard another voice, though this one I recognized on the spot. ' _Nilo!'_ From what I could tell, it came from the same direction as the voice that called out for Ruby.

"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you after ceremony!" Ruby said to Jaune before leaving. I offered him a quick wave before leaving to follow Ruby. Once we got to the source of the voices though, I felt my heart stop for a split second from surprise.

The other voice had come from a girl with long, light gold hair that paled near the end lilac eyes, an orange neck-warmer and a tan jacket. 

It was the girl from the bar.

 _'Fate, why do like doing this to me...?'_

"How's your first day going, little sister?" The blonde asked.

 _...WHAT_

"You mean since you _ditched_ me and I _exploded_?" Ruby replied.

"Geez, that sounds rough. Already having a meltdown?" Nilo asked, Ruby seemingly not even noticing it wasn't the blonde who's asked.

"No, I _literally_ exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice, and...wait, who?" 

"Ruby, this is Nilo," Yang placed a hand on Nilo's shoulder, "I met him a while after I..."

"Ditched Ruby?" I finished, prompting Yang to quickly nod in response.

"Yeah, tha-" Yang cut herself off and went silent as she stopped nodding, "hold on a second...do I know you from somewhere?" Yang looked at me with narrowed eyes before quickly backing away and snapping her fingers, "Oh yeah! You were at Junior's! You left before I could say thanks for helping me end things with a _yang._ " Her bad pun made my memories of that night come flooding back--from when I entered the bar, to the start of the fight, all the way to when I made a quick escape and hid for a bit until she left the bar. 

In addition to that, it also made me remember her name, as she'd manage to only get her first name out before realizing I was gone--Yang.

"Well, I had places to be, soo..." I lied with a shrug.

"Hmm" Yang hummed before shrugging her shoulders, and turning her attention back to Ruby, "now, back to the other thing--are you being sarcastic?" Yang asked with a broad smile, causing Ruby to scoff.

"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I _exploded,_ and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, _really_ bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!" 

" _You!_ " An annoyingly familiar voice called out, causing Ruby to jump into Yang's arms. _'Great, speak of the devil..'_

"Oh God, it's happening again!" Ruby exclaimed.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss exclaimed. 

"Oh my god, you really exploded.." Yang remarked in disbelief _. 'I feel like saying she exploded isn't the right way to phrase it. That makes it sound like she's a bomb..'_

"It was an accident," Ruby said, getting out of Yang's arms, "it was an accident!" She repeated before Weiss held up a pamphlet to Ruby, "what's this?" 

Weiss began to list off policies, to Ruby's horror, raising speed and pitch with every word. "The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory? The Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."

"Uuhhh...?" Ruby began.

"You really wanna start making things up to me?" Weiss asked.

"Absolutely?" Ruby replied.

"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again." Said Weiss, after handing the pamphlet to Ruby.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" Said Yang, though I noticed Nilo was remaining silent, trying not to look at Weiss with what looked like a grimace on his face. _'Hm? He's got beef with the Schnees too?'_

"Yeah! Great idea, sis!" Ruby said before holding her hand out as she cleared her throat, "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping shopping for school supplies!" 

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try out clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" In the direction Weiss was referring to, I noticed Jaune pick up on her comment. 'So that's where he was.' "Or maybe blue scarf over there." Weiss continued, directing her attention toward Nilo.

"Bite me, Princess." Nilo quickly replied in a sharp and venomous tone that honestly surprised everyone, including me. From what I could tell, he was the relaxed and good hearted type, but the way he said it just sounded so...hostile, like he was trying to drive a knife through someone's heart. 

There was an awkward silence, nobody knowing exactly how to respond, though the focus was removed from that...outburst?...as we noticed Ozpin readying the microphone onstage, Glynda standing beside him. 

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft, and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Students began to whisper amongst themselves, "you assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so car. It is up to you to take the first step." As Ozpin finished, Glynda stepped up to the microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"He seemed kind of...off." Yang noted.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there." Ruby commented. _'Maybe this isn't the first time he's given that exact speech..'_

"I'm a natural blond, you know!" Jaune suddenly cut in, having approached Weiss from the side. His statement just made her put her hand to her face in exasperation, causing me to smile, though still a little worried about Nilo. _'What was that a while ago...?'_

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"Well, first day's been going a little rough so far, but everything'll be alright with some sleep. After all, Sleep is everyone's friend.." I muttered to myself as I stared at the cieling of the ballroom. All the students had laid out sleeping bags in the ballroom, and I was doing my best to fall asleep on top of mine, wearing a black T-shirt with my emblem, a Yín-Yang symbol with a golden crack running across it diagonally, black sweat pants, and gray socks.

"...ooh, this sounds interesting.." I heard a female voice mutter happily beside me. I looked and saw a girl with purple hair tied into a braid that hung to her shoulders and ocean blue eyes, reading a book. She wore a black tank top and a pair of dark brown pajama pants. But the feature that stood out the most was her left arm--completely metal, some parts of it being blue, while the rest of it was a metallic silver.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked, surprising her a little. She seemed hesitant at first, but sighed before answering.

"..it's a book on chemical properties." She said, illiciting an "are you serious?" expression from me, "what?"

"Nothing..I've just never met a girl who stays up reading about as, no offense, lame-sounding as chemical properties." I said bluntly, causing her to frown a little before sighing.

"Well, I guess I'm not most girls then."

"Yeah, I can see that. What were you so chipper about just now anyways?" I asked, causing her to gain a smile on her face.

"Oh, I just found out that sodium explodes immediately on contact with water!" She said eagerly, causing me to gain a somewhat surprised expression. "Y'know, the metal."

"Wait...you mean there's a metal that explodes when it touches water?!" I exclaimed in surprise, though it was still a whisper.

"Chemical properties ain't so lame now, are they?" She asked with a smirk, causing me to gain a smile of my own.

"Yeah, I guess you've got me there. Sorry, by the way."

"It's fine. You just weren't properly educated on the awesomeness that is chemicals and their properties." She said before extending a hand to me, "my name's Violet, by the way. Violet Amestris." _'Violet, huh? Pretty name for a pretty girl...wait, brain, stop right there. We are NOT doing this right now!'_

"The name's Jin. Jin Tang Lung." I shook her hand with a grin, "...well, guess I--"

"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?!" I heard Weiss' voice at a distance, making me just slightly regret my decision to not go to sleep.

"Oh, not you again!" Weiss and Yang exclaimed simultaneously.

"Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!" Ruby said in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Oh, _now_ you're on my side!" Said Weiss.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby replied.

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!" Yang reentered the...conversation?

"She's a hazard to my health!" Weiss snapped back.

"Yeah, no, I'm going to sleep. Can't handle a night of that..." I commented, Violet shrugging as she closed her book.

"Preaching to the choir there. See you tomorrow, maybe." She said with a wave before laying down to go to sleep.

 _'Huh, we almost use the same phrase. Cool...'_ I thought with a mental smile as I closed my eyes, allowing myself to fall into slumber.

 ** _-The End_**

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 _A/N: Hey everyone! This chapter was a little later than I anticipated, admittably due to my inexperience as a writer, since I kept writing things, and getting new ideas, and then deleting the texts and rewriting. I'm assuming most of you guys might have already guessed the inspirations for at least Jin and Violet, though Violet's is more obvious._

 _Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter and stick around for the next one. See you all until then!_


	3. Initiation

**Full Disclosure: I do NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.**

"Blah"-- **Speech**

 _'Blah'--_ **Thoughts**

 **Let's get started!!**

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 _\--Jin Tang Lung--_

"Feels kinda awkward to be the only one without a locker..." I muttered as I finished putting on my other boot. With a light exhale, I began doing some stretches, clearing my mind.

Hopefully the initiation isn't so bad. I've dealt with things that were bad enough--fighting the White Fang, fighting tons of thugs, hearing Weiss--all things that left me overall drained and annoyed.

With an exhale after I finished stretching, I looked to my left and saw a girl with long dark red hair and midnight blue eyes, sheathing a short sword into a black sheath with a blue marks resembling waves. She also had another sword, a longer one, tucked into her obi and sheathed in a black sheath with red flame patterns. She wore a black very short sleeved kimono, with dark blue edgings, that reached down to her legs, with slits along the sides revealing her legs and exposing the blue half-shorts she wore underneath, along with a black obi wrapped around her waist and tied with a red cloth.

She also wore a pair of blue cloths on each forearm and black boots that went up to her knees.

After a few moments, she sighed, and narrowed her eyes while looking at me.

"Are you going to keep staring?" She asked coldly, causing me to smile nervously.

"Sorry...I've just never seen you before." I commented as she shut her locker.

"Not everyone here's studying with a buddy from Signal.." She bit back, surprising me a little.

"I meant that I haven't seen you anywhere on _campus_. Maybe I'll see you during the initiation?" I asked with a shrug and a smile.

"Maybe. Or maybe not. Either way's fine." She replied sharply before turning her back to me and leaving, allowing me to see her emblem on her back--5 interlocking blue rings.

As she left, I heard the sound of metal piercing metal, admittedly surprising me enough to make flinch. Curious, I walked over to where I heard the noise and saw Jaune against the side of a locker, his hood pierced by a red and gold spear.

"I'm sorry!" I heard a female voice exclaim, likely to Jaune.

 _Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately._ " Glynda's voice played on the intercom.

Weiss passed Jaune as he hung from the wall of a locker on her way out. She was then followed by a red headed girl, who I took a few seconds to recognize as Pyrrha Nikos, grabbing her spear and dropping Jaune to the ground.

"It was nice meeting you!" Pyrrha said as she left. Jaune slumped against the locker.

"Likewise..." He said depressingly.

"Ouch, that looked like it hurt, inside _and_ out." I commented as I approached Jaune, causing him to sigh. At that point, from what I could tell with him approaching Weiss after Ozpin finished his speech, he likely tried to flirt again today, but the results were pretty obvious.

"Hey Jin!" I heard Ruby call out, causing me to look to my right and see her and Yang approaching. Yang simply nodded her heads towards me to say hello, and I responded to both girls with a smile and a wave.

"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" Yang asked

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" Jaune said, Ruby offering him a hand to stand up. Jaune took it and lifted himself off the floor.

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start." Yang's input made me laugh a little.

"Yeah, she's already _Weiss_ cold enough to begin with." A familiar voice spoke up behind us. With a grin, I turned and saw Nilo walking towards us with a grin on his face.

"Sup Nilo!" I greeted, the both us exchanging a quick fist bump.

"Oh god, there's two..." I heard Ruby say depressingly as she slightly lowered her head. I paused for a bit before finally catching onto what she meant...

Nilo and Yang

Making puns

Possibly _never-ending_ puns

...I feel like an unknown fear of mine has just been realized for some reason.

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 _\--Nilo Brenin--_

 _'Geez, it took me forever to find this place!'_ I thought, shivering slightly at the thought of having to deal with Goodwitch if I were late.

At this point, all of us were gathered on a cliff, overlooking the Emerald Forest, standing on metal tiles, with Ozpin and Goodwitch facing us with a coffee mug and a tablet in-hand, respectively.

By the time I'd gotten here, I'd noticed Jin had already found a spot between Yang and some brown haired guy with armor.

He was wearing a short blue scarf tied around his neck, a black jacket with rolled up sleeves and his emblem on his back, a white shirt, black pants, and white boots. Additionally, he also wore a pair of yellow wrist bands, each with a black stripe that ran around horizontally.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Said Ozpin.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Goodwitch emphasized.

 _'Teams, huh? Let me guess--th_ _e process is actually gonna be a little random, isn't it...?'_

That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin elaborated.

 _'And there it is!'_ I thought with a smile.

Whaaaat?!" I heard Ruby exclaim in shock, causing me to laugh a little out of surprise.

"See? I _told_ you-!" An orange haired girl began to say to a boy next to her with mostly black hair, before Ozpin interrupted her.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you _will_ die." Jaune laughed nervously and gulped at Ozpin's statement, "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will reguard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Uh-" I began, but was seemingly ignored.

"Good. Now, take your positions." Ozpin said, all the students following his directions and entering their respective stances.

Though, as I got into my stance, I began to hear a small creaking sound beneath someone nearby.

"..hold on, what's that so--" I heard Jin begin to ask before he was launched into the air prematurely, "FUUUUUUUuuuu...!" Jin shouted as he flew off in the distance.

"Hm, so _that_ was the faulty one this year.." I heard Ozpin mutter, sending a small shiver down my spine.

 _' **This** year?!' _I thought in alarm before sighing lightly, _'well, hope he lands alright..'_

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 _\--Jin Tang Lung--_

"UUUU--Oof!" I let out as I hit a tree on the way down, "ow-son-of-a-bi--!" I said as I was hitting several trees on the way down. I almost finished, but my face hitting the dirt interrupted me. After getting up with a groan, I sat down and rubbed my face for a bit to relax it. "..well, guess I've got a head start. Might as well make the most of it instead of complain!" With an exhale, I got up and paused for a bit before making a terrible realization.

 _'...I'm lost, aren't I?'_

"Yep, this is just _swell_. What's next, a Grimm shows up?" As if Fate were laughing at my misery with a bucket of popcorn in-hand, a pack of Ursa made themselves a few meters behind me. "...you know what? _Fine_." I said with a sigh. As if on cue, one of the Ursa charged at me and took a swing, which I dodged by flipping over he attack. The Ursa quickly turned around, but I had already delivered a sharp elbow to its ribs. A moment of pause in the Ursa's movements allowed me to finish it as I quickly turned and kicked it hard enough to send it through several trees. The force of the kick was enough to kill it, as it slowly evaporated into the air

The other Ursa began to charge at me, and I charged towards them. One threw a swing, which I maneuvered around and grabbed, flipping over my shoulder and onto another Ursa. With a shout, I stomped through both the Ursa's heads, allowing me to turn my attention to the last two. I entered a stance, one arm extended outward, while the other gently rested just above my bicep. With a smirk, I gestured for them to come at me.

The first one, somewhat surprisingly, took a different approach than the previous ones and actually tried to bite me. Though a quick elbow to its cheek solved that problem easily. By shifting my weight and putting my body behind it, I quickly delivered a punch to its gut hard enough to send it skidding back, far enough that it bumped into the other Ursa that had been preparing to attack during our fight. With both distracted, I began to charge towards them, but I halted as something preceded by a clap beat me to the punch...or kill, I guess I should say.

Specifically, a spike had morphed out of the ground, piercing through both Ursi, causing them to die and fade away.

"...looks like you've been having fun." A voice I instantly recognized spoke up behind a tree, a smile coming to my face. The figure revealed herself, now in her battle attire.

She wore a green, short-sleeved, hooded cloak that came to just below her waist, a black shirt with red lining around the edges, black pants, and dark brown leather shoes with blue soles. Though her purple hair tied in a braid and ocean blue eyes were the same as before..

"Hey, Vi.." I greeted, a smile on both our faces.

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 _\--Aoko Miyamoto--_

"Tch!" I let out the sound as I approached the forest at high speeds. Luckily for me though, a Grimm was up ahead, and it was too good an opportunity to miss.

I quickly unsheathed my shorter sword, Kojiro, and threw it at the Grimm, which I began to tell was an Ursa as I got closer. The blade hit it in the back of the head, killing it. Though, if that wasn't enough, I also made a landing with a kick aimed at, and hitting, its back, and ended up sliding, using the Ursa's back like a board. As I came to a stop, I stepped off the Ursa, which immediately turned to ashes and evaporating away, allowing Kojiro to fall to the ground.

After picking up and sheathing Kojiro, I began to hear what sounded like a battle coming from not too far away. With a raised eyebrow, I approached the scene and saw a boy fighting 3 Ursa alone. Curious about how the fight would turn out, I leaned against a tree while tucking Kojiro into my obi.

The boy had pale amber hair and eyes, and wore a blue short sleeved jacket, black pants, brown boots, and black fingerless gloves, finishing his look off with the addition of a long blue scarf lined with yellow wrapped around his neck.

"Shit! No! Crap! Agh!" He exclaimed each time the Ursi swung at him and missed, dodging them with a comically scared expression on his face and fast movements. _'Is he actually human? If I didn't see him in detail, I'd have thought he was some sort of Faunus, with those reflexes.'_ I thought as I observed the boy move.

From what I could tell, he definitely had experience in fighting. He easily read the Ursi's attacks and always tried to get into their blind spot. But at the same time, something kept biting at my nerves as I continued to observe.

 _'He gets into their blind spot constantly, but why doesn't he attack?'_ I thought with a frown. It was almost as if he was showing the creatures of Grimm mercy. My attention then shifted to the weapon at his side.

It was a sword, though I could only infer details since it was still sheathed. My guess was that it was likely an arming sword, though I couldn't say for certain. Judging by the blue grip, black crossguard, and golden pommel though, it was still likely.

"Come on! Don't you guys! Ever get tired!" He shouted as he backflipped away to gain some distance. _'I think I've seen enough..'_ I thought before turning to leave, "..fine then. Have it your way.." He said before an all-too familiar sound caught my ear.

He finally unsheathed his sword.

 _'Oh?'_ Admittedly wanting to see what would happen, I turned back around and saw him in a lowered stance with his blade on his shoulders.

As it turns out, my assumption was correct. His sword was, in fact, an arming sword, with scripture carved into it. I squinted my eyes as I attempted to read what the scripture, but I was too far away. ' _What does it say...?'_ I thought curiously. Though something else that stuck out to me was the boy himself. It was almost like his personality had gone though a complete switch. His eyes now had a completely different look in them. Before, they looked like, and were, those of an idiot running for his life.

But now? They resembled those of a lion, staring down its prey, waiting for the moment to strike. Suddenly, one Ursa swung at him with its left paw, and the boy reacted instantly.

With amazing speed, he quickly dashed under the Ursa's swing, slicing through its body as he passed by. Though, that wasn't his only opponent, and he knew that. One of the remaining Ursa attempted to attack him with, of course, a swing.

In another display of his incredible speed, the boy quickly sliced off part of its arm off, and then immediately grabbed the arm and threw it in front of the Ursa's face, blocking its vision. Finally, he finished it off with a downward slash, slicing the Ursa clean in half vertically. The Ursa then began to evaporate into the air, as dying Grimm normally do.

Suddenly, as if it held no regard for its fellow Grimm, which it likely didn't, the 3rd and final Ursa clawed through the remains of the Ursa that was evaporating. The boy, his impressively fast thinking revealing itself again, stuck his blade into the ground and used it to leap upward, dodging the Ursa's attack. _'He abandoned his weapon?'_

As the boy was in the sky, I noticed something...odd, occur. The scripture began to glow, each letter gaining a royal blue shine one by one, until all were visible. Now I could finally read aloud the words engraved into his sword...

"..Avalon?"

The boy then dropped down, but to my surprise, his sword actually went to him, as if he'd summoned it by will. This allowed him to quickly cut down the Grimm by decapitating it and swiftly sheathe his sword without missing a beat.

"Phew..." The boy exhaled he let his shoulders drop, seemingly reverting to his previous personality, "I really don't like getting serious like that." He said while rubbing the top of his head gently. He then looked around before groaning lightly, "...so, are you just gonna keep watching, or~?"

 _'He noticed me?'_ I sighed lightly, _'Should I reveal myself? The headmaster said that the first person we make eye contact with is our partner, so it's best to make sure I find someone capable who doesn't get in my way...so is this person the right option? On the one hand, he seems like the idiotic type that prefers to joke around and have fun all day. While that may not exactly be too bothersome, it could lead to people finding out about my...hobby...'_ I shivered lightly at the thought of my hobby being discovered, though I quickly shook my head to forget the thought, _'On the other hand, he's plenty capable in battle and clearly knows how to take care of himself...so I suppose being partnered with him can't be too bad..'_

 ** _-The End_**

 _(A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry I took 2 weeks to put up this chapter. But school made focusing on writing the chapter difficult. Definitely not impossible, obviously, but difficult for sure. Either way, it's here now and I hope you guys not only enjoyed this chapter, but also the ones to come. Now for comment responses!)_

 _COMMENT RESPONSES:_

 **Gh0st495:** _Thank you!! I'll do my best! I already have stuff planned for this series, and hopefully you guys enjoy!_


	4. Kinda New Faces

**Full Disclosure: I do NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.**

"Blah"-- **Speech**

 _'Blah'--_ **Thoughts**

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 _\--Violet Amestris--_

"Woah!" I exclaimed as I backflipped away from a Beowolf's swing, immediately clapping my hands together as soon as I landed. I put my hands on the ground, and used my Semblance to make two large tabs emerge from the ground and slam together, crushing the Beowolf. "..geez, clapping still feels just a little awkward with this thing. Even though it's been over 10 years.." I muttered to myself, though I quickly shook the thought off afterwards with a sigh. "No. No use worrying about the past. Focus on the future.." I said before turning to look at the person who, according to Ozpin's rules, was now my partner.

At the moment, Jin had already taken out several Beowolves, and was currently fighting an Alpha Beowolf, and he'd been doing a surprisingly good job. Despite having seemingly no weapon, he was easily able to not only dodge the Alpha's attacks, but also counter it, and even just flat out attack it with punches, throws, and kicks. _'Some kind of strength Semblance maybe?'_ I thought as.looked at Jin finishing his fight.

He'd just blocked the Alpha Beowolf's backhanded swing, which sent him skidding back. However, with impressive leg strength, after going back about a meter, he propelled himself hard enough that he not only kneed the Alpha in the face, but also sent it flying through the several trees.

"Hah, suck on tha--!" He almost finished with a toothy grin, though he messed up his landing and ended up slipping, his face planting into the dirt.

"Pfft!" I let out the sound as I couldn't hold back my laughter, leaving me wrapping my arms around my stomach, almost falling on the ground. "Seems like you've got a serious case of bad luck there! Not to mention, you already look like a black cat with the hair and the eyes." He responded to my comment with muffled groan, "what's next--we get attacked by a Nevermore?"

"Please stop.." Jin whined as he got up from the ground. _'Oh, this opportunity to tease is **too** good to miss..!' _I thought happily.

"Oh? Not interested in that? Well, how about we make it more festive and throw in a Deathsta--" I almost finished, though Jin quickly put his hand over my mouth, dropping his head depressingly. I slowly removed his hand, which was actually very weakly placed, from my mouth with a brow raised, "..oh god, is your luck really _that_ bad?"

"I don't wanna talk about it..." Jin said with an exhale before he began to walk away.

"Hey, wait up!" I called out before catching up to him with ease, as he was just walking, "...so..how'd you do all that back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, easily sending Grimm through trees? Plus surviving your 'landing' here." I said the last part with a held-back laugh as I remembered seeing him land. Unfortunately, I only got to hear him go through the trees, but I did see him face-plant _hard_ on the dirt, which was enough to make me laugh.

Then came his fight with the Ursi.

Seeing as I didn't see a weapon on him, I'd gotten curious as to how exactly he'd defend himself against a sloth of Ursi. I'd figured he might overly rely on his Semblance to beat the Grimm, which admittedly lowered my hopes for him a little.

Blitzing with a Semblance might fly with the Grimm most of the time, but _people_ are different story. Unlike Grimm, Humans and Faunus have a great power--Intelligence. And both races can use said power to gain the edge on their opponent, be it by tricking them, attacking weaknesses, or, in a more specific case, tiring out those who overly rely on their Semblance. To put it simply, I don't exactly think too highly of people who think they can win a fight with their Semblance alone.

This sort of thinking is also why I admire Pyrrha Nikos as a fighter. It took watching several of her fights _repeatedly_ for me to eventually piece together that her Semblance might be polarity, and I'm still not completely certain!

And then he started fighting.

In all honesty, seeing him take out the first Ursa impressed me. Even if he were using a Semblance, that doesn't make someone as good at martial arts as he was. And _boy,_ was he good.

The way he dodged, the way he attacked with strikes, the way he threw--they all spoke volumes of his skill as a fighter. Someone who'd spent years and years practicing movements and, more importantly, someone with plenty of experience under their belt. And, through it all, he never used a weapon _once._

"What do you mean 'how'd I do it'? I just _did_ it." He replied with a brow raised. _'He says that like it's the most normal thing in the world...then again, considering where we are, he's not that far off..'_

"..ok then. In that case, I have another question."

"Actually, can I ask one first?" He quickly spoke, surprising me and, admittedly, catching me a little off guard.

"O-oh...yeah, sure."

"What's your Semblance? I've never seen one that allows people to morph stuff out of the ground." He said.

"Huh..well, to answer your question, my Semblance is Alchemy. Though I need to clap my hands together for me to use it.." I said with a light chuckle.

"Alchemy, huh..." Jin said, his eyes pointed downwards as he pinched his chin lightly, seemingly in somewhat deep thought. _'Does he do this with everyone?'_ I thought as I sweatdropped, "...oh! Right, I forgot! You had a question too?" He asked after snapping out of his train of thought.

"Yeah...actually, I was gonna ask what _your_ Semblance was.." I said, causing him to raise both eyebrows.

"Mine?" He asked with a surprised expression, though it soon changed into a smile, "Funny you should ask that. Actually--" He suddenly gained a surprised expression and went silent, tensing up, much to my confusion.

"..What is it?" I asked, now feeling a little tenser.

"...could you do us a solid and come out? And stop directing all that killing intent towards me, would you? It'll attract Grimm." Jin said with a sigh, surprising me.

"Hold up, what?!" I exclaimed before two figures approached us, one coming down from a tree, and the other coming out from behind the same tree. The first was a girl with dark red hair and midnight blue eyes, and the second was a boy with pale amber hair and eyes.

"Funny seeing you here, Jin. Somehow, I just can't seem to stop running into you." The boy said with a laugh.

"Right back at you." Jin said to the boy, before turning his attention to the girl, "but did you really have to do that?"

"I was just doing a test." The girl stated calmly, Jin raising a brow. Noticing his confusion, the girl sighed lightly, "Think about it this way--from what I got from rumors about teams at this school in the past, they're usually of 4, not just 2. So, it's likely that the first pairs who make eye contact are also likely to be put together."

"But why did you have to glare at me like you wanted to kill me then?" Jin asked.

"Easy. Because, if we're counting her arm as one," The girl said as she nodded her head towards me, "you're the only one here without a weapon. And I'm not going to be put on the same team as a _liability.._ so I did a test."

"..well, did I pass?" Jin asked with a brow raised and a smile.

"...for now." The girl said before walking past the rest of us, "Nilo, come on."

"Yeah, yeah." Nilo said with a sigh, sending a smile my way as he walked past us and went to catch up with the girl.

"...so...guessing you two know each other?" I asked Jin, who just smiled and nodded. "Well, this ought to be a _fun_ year." I said, emphasizing the "fun" part with a sarcastic tone, to which Jin simply chuckled.

With that, we continued our walk until we reached a cliff, with an large open field of grass surrounded by forrest down below. Although, there was clear evidence that a fight had occurred, with some being the large feathers that pierced the ground and the large shards of ice.

"Geez, looks like there was a pretty intense fight down there. Hope they're ok.." I commented, still a bit surprised by the seen below us.

"..Violet." I heard Jin's voice speak up from behind me, sounding oddly serious, "don't panic."

"Wha--?" I was interrupted as Jin suddenly pushed me away, sending me tumbling down the cliff until I reached the bottom. "Ow! What the hell, man?!" I shouted angrily after I got up, rubbing the back of my head with my right arm. Although, about half a second after I said that, Jin was sent flying from the point on the cliff, to the other side of the open field, and through several trees. Unsure of how to respond, I opened my mouth, but soon closed it and shook my head, opting to run over to where he was instead.

"Violet! Make a wall!" Jin shouted in the distance, causing me to stop before entering the forest again.

"What? Why?!" I quickly asked before hearing loud stomps coming from the cliff, causing me to quickly turn my head towards the cliff. The sound and feeling of each thump got louder as it came closer and closer. Feeling a chill run up my spine, I quickly did as Jin said, clapping my hands and placing them on the ground, causing a wall to morph upwards out of the ground.

"..ok, I think that'll--"

"The fight's not over yet!!" Jin's shout interrupted me as he tackled me away from the wall, and for good reason.

Apparently, a wall that thick wasn't good enough, as whatever it was that sent Jin flying easily broke through the wall, large amounts of dust hiding its form from our vision.

After a few moments though, the smoke began to clear, with...whatever it was, that broke through the wall slowly becoming clearer.

"Is that...a tree?!!" I exclaimed, surprised about the fact that the creature, assuming it was a Grimm, had enough intelligence to actually use surroundings as a weapon.

Before Jin could respond, a growl was heard emanating from the beast at the edge of the cliff. Turning our heads to the cliff again, we were greeted with the form of the mystery beast looking directly as us.

It was a Grimm with the body of a muscular man, though it had a bull's head and hooves instead of human feet. It had the typical white mask all Grimm have over its face, along with armored plates on its shins and forearms, as well as small patches of white armor on its shoulders. _'Oh my god, what **is** that?!!' _I thought in horror, watching as it jumped down from the cliff and landed, creating a small crater beneath it.

"What even _is_ that?!" I asked Jin, who was now wearing his black jacket tied around his waist.

"A Tavros..." Jin began, "and let's just say that they aren't exactly common. At least not Vale."

"The Kingdom or the city?" I asked with an eyebrow raised, slightly expecting him to get agitated at what admittedly sounded like a smartass remark.

"The Kingdom." Jin replied, "more importantly, it's too strong for just the two of us to take on alone. Right now, we need to focus on escaping."

"..." I remained silent as I looked around, spotting what looked like an abandoned temple in the distance. _'For now, getting away from the Tavros as fast as possible is definitely the best option, but it's obviously going to come after us. In that case, I'll have to use my Semblance to slow it down..'_

"You got any ideas?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, just one--I slow it down and we haul ass. That good enough?"

"Sounds like the best plan for now!" Jin replied. With a quick nod, I quickly clapped my hands together and placed them on the ground, causing chains made of earth to morph out of the ground and lock around the Tavros's neck and limbs.

"Ok, let's go!" I shouted. Though before I started running, Jin took a surprisingly fast dash towards the Tavros, "Jin, what're you--!" Before I could finish, Jin dealt a kick to its stomach so powerful that it not only sent it free from my chains, but also across the field and through several trees. "...whoa.." _'How much power is he packing?!!'_

"Sorry 'bout that! Just wanted to make some extra distance!" Jin shouted as ran back to me.

"So your Semblance is super strength?" I asked as we both ran to the abandoned temple.

"Actually, truth is, I don't have one!" He said with a grin, though I was feeling...flabbergasted, to say the least.

"YOU WHAT?!" ' _He doesn't have a--then how did--the kick--and the Ursi--and--I--he--!!'_ My mind scrambled at the revelation, though Jin continued to run with a grin on his face. _'..well, looks like I got quite the beast as a partner..'_

We continued to run for the abandoned temple, but little did we know that an angry growl was being emitted from the forest...

 ** _The End_**

 _A/N: (Hello my readers!! Welcome back to another..disappointingly, short chapter of Team NAVJ. It's times like this where I really do feel upset at how bad I am at writing beginnings. But nevertheless, I shall provide!! Sorry the chapter took so long again, but school makes it hard to have an organized schedule for writing chapters. Hope you guys enjoyed this one, and, with that, onward to the responses!)_

 _COMMENT RESPONSES:_

 **Gh0st495:** _Thanks! From the beginning, I was going to have Jin and Violet be partnered up. As for Aoko, she's someone who'll be explored later, as a character. I tried to write the fight scenes while imagining them in my head how they would've looked if Monty did them (but I think he would've done better :) )._


	5. Battle with a Bull

**Full Disclosure: I do NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.**

"Blah"-- **Speech**

 _'Blah'--_ **Thoughts**

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _\--Nilo Brenin--_

"Did you really have to do the 'death glare'?" I questioned my partner as we walked, having already passed by the abandoned temple and picked up one of the "relics" Ozpin left for us, in the form of chess pieces. _'This definitely has a deeper meaning, but I feel too lazy to read further into that...'_ I thought as I observed our piece, a Black Knight, that I had picked up at the abandoned temple a few ways back.

My partner remained silent for a moment, before sighing.

"Like I said before, it's likely that we'll be put together in teams of 4, and I'm not interested in being put on the same team as a liability. I needed some way to test him that didn't involve coming into direct contact with him. Hence, the 'death glare'." Aoko explained, not a single damn given through the tone of her voice.

"...so, why'd he pass? Not to say I know you _that_ well, but I have a feeling you didn't pass him just because he could feel you glaring through the back of his head." I asked with a raised brow.

"...his heart.." Aoko replied, confusing me.

"His _heart_? What are you even--"

"It's my Semblance." Aoko quickly interrupted me, "I have the ability to read people's hearts. Think of it like mind reading, but I read what people feel in their heart instead."

"But you can't read a heart! It's a _heart_!" I exclaimed.

"I know that you can't read an organ, idiot. It's just a figure of speech." Aoko shot back, one of my brows twitching as I processed her insult, "What I mean is that I can read people's true emotions and intentions. Though, it does have a price. If it's just briefly, then I can safely read other people without any problems. But, if I go for too long, then my Semblance causes me to begin to genuinely empathize with them, or worse..."

"Worse?" I offhandedly asked, though Aoko remained silent, "..actually, never mind. It's fine if you don't want to answer."

"Thanks..." She said in a slightly quieter voice. _'So it's useful in a fight since she can read what her opponent'll do next, but it could seriously backfire if she uses it on seriously bad people. Wonder what her life was like when she was younger...'_ I thought to myself, "anyways, getting back on topic, I used my Semblance on...um.." I noticed her getting silent and furrowing her brows as she likely realize she didn't know who he was.

"Jin." I commented, causing her to gain a somewhat surprised expression, "His name. It's Jin."

"Right...well, I used it on Jin, and the first thing I felt was..oddly enough, relaxation. He was standing in a Grimm-filled forest, death being an obvious possibility, yet he was so relaxed about it, like he _knew_ he'd do just fine, despite his lack of a weapon.."

"...is that it?" I asked.

"Well, I--"

"GUYS!!" Before Aoko could finish, we both heard Jin yell from behind us, him and his partner sprinting straight towards us.

"Jin? What're--?"I began.

"RUN NOW, TALK LATER!!" His partner shouted. A look of confusion crossed mine and Aoko's faces, as we looked at each other wondering the same question.

 _'The hell's up with them?'_

Though, our question seemed to answered, as we soon heard a roar emanating from far behind Jin and his partner. Instantly putting two and two together, Aoko and I did the logical thing and started booking it.

"You idiot! What did you do?!" Aoko exclaimed to Jin while running.

"First of all, BITE ME! I'm not an idiot!" Jin quickly snapped back, "and second of all, we didn't start anything! A Tavros attacked us, we ran for it, saw you guys, and now we're having _this_ lovely conversation!!!"

"The hell's a Tavros?" I asked Jin.

"BULL-MAN-GRIMM!" Jin's partner exclaimed.

"...ok, I'll ask again. The hell's a--?!"

"GET DOWN!" I was cut off as Jin tackled me, the wind whistling as something went soaring past us.

"What the...DID IT THROW ANOTHER ONE?!" Jin's partner exclaimed in surprise, though Aoko and I were left confused. That is, until we looked ahead and saw part of a tree sticking out the ground, the rest impaling the dirt beneath.

"Oh my god, what could--?!" I cut my question short as I looked back and saw a creature matching a recent description in the distance, growling while it's red eyes brightened ever so slightly. "...right..bull-man-Grimm..."

"Is our only option to fight it?" Aoko asked, one hand already grasping her sheathed longer sword tucking into the cloth tied around her obi.

"Seems like it. We won't be able to run forever, and I know from experience how a Tavros fights, more or less." Jin replied, clenching his fists.

"...alright then.." I began, getting up by pushing off one knee and then standing, "in that case, we should make some kind of plan. For starters, what're your Semblances?"

"Mine's Alchemy. I can basically morph stuff out of other stuff, though I can only morph them into an object of equal mass. Plus, I can change substances into other substances, but only if they're in the same category, so to speak. If I had to explain it in a simpler way, I can't turn dirt into steel, but I _can_ turn iron into steel." Jin's partner elaborated, "And my name's Violet, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nilo." I quickly greeted, "Ok, what about you Jin?"

"I don't have one."

...HOLD UP, _WHAT_?!

"...come again?" I asked in surprise and, if we hadn't in a life or death situation at the moment, I would've at least chuckled as I looked at Aoko and saw a surprised expression etched on her face.

"A Semblance. I don't have one. But I _am_ a pretty capable fighter, and I also know how Tavros's think and act, so it's not like I can't contribute anything. For example," Jin back looked towards the Tavros in the distance as it...stood still? "Tavros's stand completely still when they're recharging. To put it simply, they can dish out plenty of pain and can take a lot of hits, but they normally burn out their stamina after a while."

"Normally?" Aoko asked.

"Yeah. It can vary depending on the situation. There've been times where they've taken over an hour to burn out, as well as times where they've taken 2 or 3 minutes, or even just half a minute. And that's just _one_ of the reasons why they're a pain in the ass to fight against." Jin elaborated, "but enough about that. We need to come up with a plan while it's still recharching, and fast."

"Agreed." said Aoko, "Nilo?"

"..." I remained silent, quickly forming a plan in my head. _'Ok, so we've got an Alchemy user, a swordswoman who can read emotions, a hand-to-hand fighter with no Semblance, and my...special, case. Jin said that the time it takes for Tavros's to recharge varies, so we should act as soon as possible. Unfortunately, while both mine and Violet's Semblances will be useful here, Aoko's is pretty much rendered useless while fighting against Grimm...unless she reads her teammates hearts to synchronize movements for smoother combat! Ok, got that part down. Now what else?'_

' _Violet's Alchemy Semblance will definitely be useful in both offense and defense. Although, I don't have very expansive knowledge on chemical properties, so I'll have to ask her more later. Ok, 2 down, one to go. Last but not least--the unknown piece.'_

' _Jin'll definitely be a piece that I don't know exactly how to handle, considering that he doesn't have a Semblance, or even a weapon. From that much, I'm almost, if not completely, certain that he's gotta be extremely adept at martial arts. But will that be enough to let him go on the offensive against THAT? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he can still provide valuble information about the Tavros, so he'll at least be able to have that as a role.'_

"..ok. Guys, listen up. For now, we should distance ourselves from the Tavros and find somewhere to hide while we make a plan. Sound good?"

" I mean, yeah, but shouldn't you ask us about our abilities more though?" Violet asked.

"Nah, I evaluated each of you guys just now, even thought some basic roles too. Though some details would be really helpful." I replied, earning a surprised expression from Violet, "What?"

"Evaluated us? But it's only been a few seconds!"

"Really? Guess I'm just a really quick thinker!" I replied with a light laugh while scratching my cheek with a finger, "but never mind that, let's go!" I exclaimed and, with a quick nod from everyone else, we ran into the forest, hearing a roar soon after we entered.

"Sounds like it's done recharging." Jin commented while we ran, "For the first few minutes, it'll be more or less in a blind rage, so we need to make a plan and fast." Jin explained, the beasts rampage already being audible as the air carried sounds of roars and damaged trees.

"Way ahead of you." I said, "Aoko, can you use your Semblance to read your comrades' movements so you can synchronize movements?"

"I...I think I actually might be able to do that." Aoko replied, though it was likely to herself, as it was in a surprised tone.

"Good. You, me, and Jin'll be the main offensive, and we're gonna need some solid teamwork if we wanna win against this thing. Violet," I looked over towards dark purple haired alchemist, "your job main job is to slow it down with your Alchemy. Make it look away when it spots one of us, attack it when it's not looking--be like an annoying mosquito."

"WHO YOU CALLIN' LITTLE, YOU ASSWIPE?!!" Violet suddenly exclaimed at me angrily, the rest of us, "...sorry..I grew up with 2 siblings, and I've always had the misfortune of being the shortest in the family. They've made fun of me for years, and now I have a bit of a temper when it comes to my height..." Violet explained, seemingly embarrassed.

"Noted.." I replied with a nervous smile, though my attention became focused elsewhere as the Tavros's previously audible rampage had now gone silent. And it seemed like I wasn't the only one, seeing as everyone else, including me, stopped running, "Looks like it's stopped fuming. Jin?"

"Yeah, you're right. Now, it'll behave normally...though that behavior includes using trees as bats and javelins, so yeah.." Jin noted with a light sigh.

Then, we began to hear... _something._ It sounded like heavy footsteps, but there also this.. _dragging_ sound. _'Looks like it's already got it's weapon ready..'_

"Ok, guess it's time for the action to start!" Jin exclaimed, oddly enough with a grin on his face. A _grin_ , of all things. _'What is he, a battle addict?'_

Though that question would have to wait for later, as the battle suddenly began with the Tavros suddenly appearing and charging towards us, taking a downward swing at Jin, which he quickly dodged as he did a side flip. The attack from the Grimm created a small crater in the ground as it made contact with the dirt.

"Violet!" I exclaimed. With that, I heard a clap sound, followed by the Tavros being held down as two locks morphed around its feet.

After quickly drawing Avalon from its sheath, I swung at the Tavros's head, though it quickly blocked, my sword cutting clean through the tree it was holding, as well as cutting a bit into its forearm. _'How much basic combat does this thing know?'_

The Tavros attempted to hit me with a backhanded swing, though I backflipped away before it could, landing in a crouched position. Before I could get up though, something went whistling downward and pierced the Tavros's shoulder. _'Is that...one of Aoko's swords?'_

Suddenly, Aoko descended from the trees above, landing on its shoulder, with her small sword between her feet. She then locked her feet around the grip of the blade and did a spinning backflip, not only taking back her small sword, but also escaping the Tavros's grasp, as well as cutting deeply through its shoulder.

Angered by this, the Tavros quickly attempted to reach out to grab Aoko, though it was stopped short and knocked back as Jin's foot met its snout, with so much force that I actually felt some wind hit me. _'So he's a powerhouse..? No, it's not just that. Being a powerhouse alone wouldn't be enough for Beacon, and Jin's smart enough to know that for sure. So it must be a mix of power and skill then..'_

The Tavros roared and slammed its fists onto the ground, causing the ground beneath us to shake a little. It then looked dead at Jin and growled, fists clenched and eyes a slightly brighter red. Jin seemed unfazed by this, returning a glare of his own, golden eyes burning with the will to fight.

The two's silent stare-down was suddenly interrupted though, as a clap broke the silence, the Tavros's back having a bright purple shine behind it. Angered by this, the Tavros quickly turned while preparing to hit, who I figured was Violet, with a backhand. Though his attack was unsuccessful, as Aoko suddenly appeared with her longer sword unsheathed and sliced clean through the elbow of the arm the Tavros had attempted to strike with, leaving it with a left arm with no forearm.

The Tavros screamed in pain, clutching its left bicep while it gritted its teeth. _'...why is it just clutching its...no way..'_

"Hey Jin.." I began, "is it doing what I think it's doing?"

"If you mean the other thing that makes it a pain in the ass to fight against, then yeah, it's doing what you think it's doing.." Jin replied, looking at the Tavros with an annoyed expression.

Sure enough, with one final roar, a new forearm suddenly grew out of spot where the last one had been cut off. _'So it can regenerate limbs too?!'_

"This makes things more difficult.." Aoko commented.

"And annoying." Jin noted with sigh, sitting down on the ground. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this yet, but it looks like I don't have a choice..." He said while removing both of his boots. _'The hell is he doing?'_

"Uh, what're you doing?" I asked with a brow raised.

"Making things a little easier for me." Jin replied calmly as he got up, now barefoot, "and don't worry about my feet. I'm used to fighting barefoot, so it's fine."

"If you say so." I said with a shrug, "So, we gonna have to change the plan because your alteration in wardrobe?"

"Actually, yeah. I've got an idea." Jin replied, "Vi?"

"Yeah?" Violet responded as she emerged from the trees next to us, seemingly unfazed by Jin's sudden use of a nickname.

"I'm guessing you used your Semblance to alter the material of its armor?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. Though I just changed it into something weaker, just to see if I could do it to Grimm armor." Violet explained, clapping her hands together and placing her right hand on a patch of extra metal on her left arm, morphing it forward into a blade extending past her hand.

"Ok, think you can do it again?" Jin asked while doing some light leg stretches.

"If I can get an opening, yeah? But why--"

"Good. For now, I'll take it on so it'll burn out more quickly. I suggest you guys stand back though. I won't be holding back while I'm fighting it." Jin said while cracking his knuckles by clenching his fists.

Though, as I was about to object, I felt a hand press on my shoulder. I looked back and saw Aoko, a tense expression on her face as she calmly shook her head.

Jin calmly walked forward and stopped about a meter away from the Tavros, the two of them staring at each other without moving a muscle.

Eventually, after the intense staredown, the two suddenly dashed toward each other, initiating their fight.

 ** _The End_**

 _(A/N: Hello readers! I'm sorry the chapter came out so late. School can be a REAL pain in the butt like that. But, nevertheless, the chapter is out! In all honesty, the moment the Nuckalavee showed up in V4, I knew I was gonna put some mythological Grimm in Team NAVJ...the story, not the team. Hence, the Tavros. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter, despite how long it took to come out. I'll see you all next time!)_


	6. A Flashy Send-off

**Full Disclosure: I DO NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.**

"Blah" **= Spoken**

 _'Blah'_ **Thoughts**

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 _\--Yang Xiao Long--_

"Man, that was _crazy_!" I exclaimed with my arms aimed high, a grin spread across my face, "not only did Jaune and the gang take out a Deathstalker, but we even took down a Nevermore!" 

After we'd finished the Initation, a Bullhead had come and picked us up, taking us all the way back to Beacon academy's auditorium. An ocean of students had already been there, all seated as they waited for...wait, what _were_ they waiting for? Wasn't everybody already here?

"Yeah..for a second there, I thought we were getting ahead of ourselves," ...DID SHE JUST.., "and I...Yang? Why are you looking at me like that..?"

"Ruby...what did you just say?" I asked, trying and failing a little to stay calm, as I felt my mouth twitch and my arms starting to move on their own.

"Huh? I just said I thought we were getting--...no..NO! Yang, that was an accident! That was an acci--!" My precious little sister's words were cut short as I wrapped her in a hug, feeling gleeful down to my very bones.

"YOUR FIRST PUN!" I exclaimed happily as I hugged her tighter, "I'm so proud of you!"

"Ahem." I heard a cough come from behind Ruby, causing me to raise my head and slightly loosen my hug, which Ruby was adorably struggling to get out of, "while I don't mean to break up the sisterly-bonding moment you two are having, you may want to take a look at this." Weiss commented as she gestured to the screen in front of us.

It showed an aerial view of the forest, moving closer to a certain area where a roar was repeatedly heard. _'Cool, they had drones.'_ As the drone moved closer, it descended into the trees, the sound of it passing through walls of leaves being plenty audible for us to hear. So much so that I even noticed Blake tense up a little, though she quickly relaxed. _'What was that about?'_

" _I suggest you guys stand back though. I won't be holding back while I'm fighting it. " _A famliar voice played over the audio, my brows rising and my eyes widening as I realized who it was, his black spiky hair and golden eyes making his identity plenty clear with the addition of his voice.

"Jin?!" I was about to exclaim, but Ruby beat me to it, even getting up out of her seat, to my surprise.

"It seems like there's other people there too, including the scarfed boy from before.." Weiss noted, "What are they still doing there?"

As if responding to her question, the drone slowly panned to the right, revealing a monstrosity with an all-too-familiar color scheme...but that was it. The only thing that was familiar to me, and apparently everyone else too, judging by the looks on their faces, was the color scheme and the creepy mask. But other than that? Well...

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT?!!"

...Yeah, that about sums it up.

" _Language_." Goodwitch warned the male student who suddenly yelled out sternly. I swear, she could probably shoot lasers of seriousness out of those green eyes of hers. Theoretical green beams aside though, the threat worked plenty, as the male student shut his mouth and didn't utter a single word. Not even an apology, though the silence he showed was probably more than enough.

A sudden loud sound caused me to turn my attention to the screen again, showing Jin fighting the Grimm as his fist clashed with its own, causing powerful winds to form, blowing against the trees and even interfering a bit with the drone, as it briefly cut to static before going back to normal.

Apparently it wasn't fast enough though, as the fight had already progressed, with the Grimm sending several punches, a bit too fast for the drone's camera to track, I might add, and Jin dodging all of them without getting hit once, as he weaved around punches that zoomed through the air.

" _God. Damn. Pain. In. The. A--! " _Jin was sharply silenced as one of its punches finally connected square on his face, sending him skidding back with his head tilted backwards. After he stopped skidding, he slowly lowered his head back to normal, his hair hiding his eyes, but not the excited grin on his face. _'He's smiling?!' " COME ON! THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" _Jin shouted with a grin before charging back in.

"..." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Professor and the Headmaster having varied reactions to Jin. Professor Goodwitch was groaning while covering her face with her hand, her head drooping down slightly. Meanwhile, Ozpin just chuckled at the sight of Jin's smile in the heat of battle.

"Why are they like this..?" I heard Goodwitch ask with a feeling of tiredness present in her voice.

"Well, I suppose they wouldn't be themselves if they weren't like that..." Ozpin remarked with a smile.

 _'What're they talking about?'_ I wondered with a brow raised and eyes slightly narrowed.

" _I'm not sure if he's an idiot, or if he's just that tenacious... " _Another voice spoke out over the

feed, a female one, with a tone that sounded like slight disbelief. Although, its presence as an insult didn't go unnoticed.

" _Shut it! I'm not an idio--Ah! " _Jin cut his words short as he had to duck under another punch from the Grimm.

 _\--Jin Tang Lung--_

"Ah! Son of a--!" I quickly shut my mouth and stopped talking as I dodged a punch by jumping, its fist cutting through the air as the attack passed slightly beneath my feet as I was crouched in midair. It quickly reacted though, suddenly throwing a right hook, to my surprise. 

I reacted quickly, placing my hand underneath the bicep of its extended arm and pushing down, with gravity doing the rest of the work for me, allowing me to dodge the punch. I landed on the ground crouched, feeling the grass beneath my feet and between my toes. I quickly shot up and placed on hand on top of its bicep while the other sharply palmed beneath it. I felt its bone crack as I drove my palm upward, causing a pain-filled, angry roar to escape its snout.

Quickly getting behind it, I did a spin kick, the front of my foot sharply colliding with its snout. The force of the kick was enough to force the Tavros backwards, and _hard_ , as its head collided at high speeds with the grass. I immediately charged at it, not wanting to let up, though I wasn't entirely fast enough. It quickly recovered, clenching its fists and forcing itself up. I managed to quickly cross my arms, just in time to guard myself from the powerful headbutt it sent my way, along with a roar. The attack sent me skidding back, as I clenched my teeth and put down my guard, getting into a stance.

As soon as it stood back up, we both charged toward each other, reentering the heated battle we initiated with one another, as we exchanged blows, though mine were comprised largely of kicks and also punches, unlike the Tavros, which only threw punches. I managed to land a few punches to its snout and even another kick, this time on the side of its head.

Right after that kick though, the Tavros sent a punch my way, aimed at my face. I quickly dodged to the side, though I felt it touch my cheek a little bit. _'I should probably make some distance right now..'_ I thought before evading another attack, this one a downward punch the dug into the ground. I quickly backflipped some feet away and readied myself, though shortly after doing so, I felt something on my cheek, and on my chin too. In fact, it felt like it was connected, like something was runni--...shit.

My cut hadn't healed...which meant that my Aura must've broken. As for when? Well, ain't that the million-lien question.

 _'Well, that sucks. Guess it'll be like old times then..'_ I thought with an internal sigh before standing up straight with my hands at my sides as I cracking my neck by moving it from side to side. I took a deep breath and exhaled with my eyes closed, opening them after I exhaled as I readied myself. 

Clenching my fists, I let out a battle roar before the Tavros and I charged at each other again.

 _\--Nilo Brenin--_

"I'm starting to get why he came to Beacon without a weapon.." I commented without thinking, watching the battle in front of me unfold with wide eyes. Jin and the Tavros were exchanging blows at rapid speeds, too fast for me to track. Plus, the times where there blows actually collided caused small shockwaves to occur, the wind caused by said shockwaves blowing against the trees somewhat strongly. 

"Yeah, well, he might not be able to keep it up for too long." Aoko noted beside me, "that cut he got from the attack earlier isn't healing, meaning his Aura must've been broken." Aoko narrowed her eyes slightly, "yet he's still somehow able to fight on its level without an Aura.." I heard her mutter.

"Yeah, well, like you said, if he's fighting without an Aura, then he won't be able to do it for too long." I said before looking over to Violet, "Violet, you said you tried to change the material of its armor before. Were you able to?"

"Huh?" Violet blinked and backed away slightly, likely due to being absorbed in the fight, ' _I know that feeling..'_ "Y-yeah, I was..why?" 

' _From what we saw before, the Tavros can heal its body, and even regrow parts that've been removed...but it's not like it can regrow its head..'_

"Can turn in it into a substance that'll explode upon contact?" 

"Uh...yeah, I can. What substance?" 

"I don't know, I hadn't thought that far. I was hoping you'd know.." I replied. After a moment of silence, Violet lightly laughed, before going silent with a smile on her face.

"I've got one in mind, but we're gonna need something to set it off." 

"What is it? A lighter?" Aoko asked.

"Nope, the opposite actually." Violet replied, "we're gonna need water.." _'What explodes when touching water?..no, more importantly, where are we gonna find wate--...oh, right..'_

"I might be able to help with that." I said, _'If I'm lucky, I can just pass it off as an attack that uses Water Dust...'_ "I'll need some time to charge it up though. I'll use Water Dust."

Ok. I'll distract it with Jin while Violet changes the material of its armor." Aoko said as she drew her longer sword.

Good enough for me." Violet said before clapping her hands and using Alchemy to retract the blade that was on her arm back into the extra patch of metal it was before. "We're gonna head in right now, so I guess you ought to start charging that attack. Make sure to warn us before you do it though, ok?"

"Got it." I said as I got into a stance, slightly crouched with my hand on the handle of my

sheathed sword as I closed my eyes and concentrated.

 _'Ok...gonna have to shout it mentally, considering I don't want anyone finding out about what it can do..'_

 _\--Violet Amestris--_

"Jin!" I called out to him while Aoko made the Tavros back away as it was forced to avoid a sword slash. 

"Vi?! And you, too? What're you guys doing here?" Jin said while panting, hunched over slightly. _'Guess he's finally starting to take a toll..'_

"We have an idea. Long story short, I'm gonna change the material of its armor into sodium and Nilo's going to use water dust to blow it up. You and Aoko'll have to distract it for me though." 

"Good enough for me!" He said as he charged forward again, jumping into the heat of battle _again,_ only this time with Aoko as a partner. Feeling confident in the plan, I maneuvered around the trees, keeping myself out of myself Tavros's sights. 

Jin and Aoko did their jobs damn well, as they seemed to overwhelm it with well-synchronized attacks, even if Jin moved a bit faster than Aoko. Taking advantage of the Tavros's state of confusion, I quickly clapped my hands before running out of the forest and doing a flip over the the Tavros, using my metal hand to change the material of its mask into sodium while in the air, causing the mask to change from white to silver. Immediately after I landed on the ground, I ran back behind a tree before it could spot me, not like it had any time to search though, due to synchronized attacks between Aoko and Jin continuing. 

"Ok, I did it! You guys are gonna need to back up pretty far! Go 2 meters just to be safe!" I called out. Jin and Aoko both responded by splitting up, both running away and hiding in different sides of the forest, with Aoko joining me. Once I stopped hearing any noise aside from the Tavros's roars, I looked to Nilo's direction, "NILO, DO IT!!!"

All I heard next was Nilo letting loose a battle roar, along with a large blue slash made of water headed straight for the Tavros. The slash was so sharp that it actually completely cut diagonally through the Tavros's right shoulder, as well as leave a deep slash mark on the Tavros's mask. 

The cut in the mask briefly lit on fire for a moment before exploding with so much force that it not only completely exploded the Tavros's head, but it also sent shards of the mask flying, pieces embedding themselves into the trees, and one barely scratching my cheek as it flew by.

The Tavros lost its strength and fell back, my breath getting caught in my throat as its body remained for a few seconds. Much to my relief though, the body soon eroded away into the air, signifying that it was dead. At the sight of black ashes rising in the sky, I let out a relieved sigh as I fell on my back, happy that the fight was over.

"He was right.." I heard Aoko say as she sheathed her sword, panting a little, "...it really was a pain in the ass to fight.." I remained silent for a moment before letting a smile rest itself on my face. Though that silence was short-lived, as I erupted into full-blown laughter, while also being happy that the laughter was drowned out by the sound of the Bullhead approaching us. My mind relaxed, as I though three simple words that summarized how I felt about the whole experience:

 _'Welcome to Beacon...'_

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"And lastly--Violet Amestris, Jin Tang Lung, Aoko Miyamoto, and Nilo Brenin." Ozpin said our names as we stood there, all looking tired to various degrees, with myself being the least, and Jin being the most, to the point where I noticed he was struggling to hold back a yawn, "the four of you retrieved the Black Knight pieces." I laughed internally as I remembered the groan of extreme exhaustion Jin let out as we were picked up, when we were asked what piece we took. We had to go back to ruins and get the piece, and we were lucky enough to have the Bullhead escort us, "From this day forward, you will work together as...Team NAVJ!" Ozpin's announcement had the crowd, much like with the rest of the team announcements, roaring with cheers and applause, "Led by...Nilo Brenin!" That announcement got a round of applause too, as a smile grew on my face.

 _'Looks like this'll be an interesting four years...'_

 **The End**

 _A/N: Hey everyone! Author here, and this chapter took SO DAMN LONG TO WRITE, but that much is pretty evident from the amount of time it took to publish it after "Battle with a Bull". Of everything, the most time consuming part for me was the fight solely between Jin and the Tavros, mostly because I didn't know what pace I wanted the battle to be going at. By that, I mean how fast they're going._

 _Eventually, I settled on this as a model: watch the fight between Kagura and Abuto in Gintama. That's basically how fast Jin and the Tavros were going, especially during the parts where they were exchanging blows._

 _Also, one more thing. Some of you guys may note that Sodium here is pretty different from normal Sodium, especially when it comes to how hard it is, considering that you can cut normal Sodium with a key. For that, I say this: different world, different rules. I felt like making Sodium harder and reacting to water on immediate contact, instead of just being dropped in water, would make it seem more interesting._

 _That's all I've got for now. See you next chapter!_


	7. First Day

**At this point, with the fact that this is a RWBY AU story, published on a website called "Fanfiction", in addition the fact that I've already put it in the last 6 chapters, I'm not gonna put in the whole "I don't own RWBY, it belongs to Roosterteeth" disclaimer because, well, it should be obvious this point. So yeah. Also, I'm changing the parting symbol to " _-0-0-_ " now, just to make it easier for me.**

 **P.s: for those wondering about the new cover image, it is, in fact, Nilo. I'll be updating it w/different characters as I go on, but the series will eventually have its own cover.**

"Blah" **= Spoken**

 _'Blah'_ **Thoughts**

 _ **-0-0-**_

 _\--Nilo Brenin--_

 _"The hell is he?"_

 _"A damn freak, that's what."_

 _"Is he a human or a Faunus?"_

 _"I don't serve to your kind!"_

 _"I'd rather play with a Faunus than be near whatever you are!"_

 _"BECAUSE YOU DON'T **BELONG** HERE!!!"_

 ** _-0-0-_**

I sat up quickly, having woken up suddenly at the sound of the equally sudden blaring of the alarm clock, which went silent after a few seconds, my heart racing while I panted lightly. I placed a hand against my forehead, feeling that I was apparently sweating, causing me to sigh lightly. Although, my brief moment of calmness was abruptly interrupted as I heard the door to my...no, _our_ dorm open. ' _Our dorm..my team... **MY** team..yeah, that's definitely going to take some getting used to..'_

To my surprise, Jin entered the room, wearing only a white t-shirt, black sweatpants, and a pair of black sneakers. He had a white towel draped around his neck, some sweat present on his face.

"Hey, I'm here. Any of you guys awake?" He asked before yawning, allowing a hand to hover over his mouth as he did so.

Before I could speak up, Violet groaned lightly before sitting up and stretching her arms out, the metal one making slight noises as it rose and eventually descended.

"...well, 2 out of 3's pretty good. All that leaves is..." Jin looked over to Aoko's bed, and so did I, only to find it empty and already made, "wait, where is she?"

"Right behind you." Aoko stated matter-of-factly, causing Jin to jump away from the door in surprise. She wore a dark blue tank top, black sweatpants and blue sneakers. She had her hair tied into a ponytail and had a black bag slung over her shoulder. _'Guess they were both out training..'_ "..."

"..What is it?" Jin asked, looking noticeably awkward as Aoko continued to look at him.

"...it's nothing. I'll get changed first." She said as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"...I.." Jin tried to come up with something to say, but gave up, letting out a sigh as proof. He walked over to his bed and picked up the black bag that was on top of it. Meanwhile, both Violet and I had already gotten up and ready, and Aoko had already gotten out of the bathroom fully changed while we were getting ready, allowing me to go in next. After I finished getting dressed, with the addition of blue scarf around my neck, Violet went in, and after her was Jin. Although, he seemed noticeably more...hesitant to do so. To the point where Aoko actually had to shove him into the bathroom and close the door behind him.

After a few minutes, Jin came out wearing the same uniform as me, though the red tie around his neck was loosened and the sleeves of the black blazer were rolled up to his elbows. Jin then briefly pulled on the white collars of the dress shirt underneath, making it so the collar wasn't tucked beneath the blazer. Finally, he finished his look off with his blue bandana-like cloth tied around his neck.

"Hate wearing these things..." Jin mumbled with an irritated expression on his face before sighing heavily, placing his hands in his pockets before turning his attention to me, "so, where are we going first, Mr. Leader?" I raised a brow slightly at the nickname, but soon shook the thought off mentally.

"First up is..." I began, going silent for a bit as I checked my Scroll to see what class was first, "Grimm Studies, with Professor Port. And apparently it doesn't start for about half an hour." I commented, "..well, I'm gonna head out. Guess I'll see you guys there?" I asked, getting a head nod from everyone but Jin, who simply shrugged in response.

With that, I left the dorm room, my hands tucked in my pockets as I made my way to the cafeteria.

 ** _-0-0-_**

After grabbing a glass of orange juice in addition to a couple slices of toast, I took a seat on the floor, my back against the walls of the cafeteria, staring out towards the campus in front of me, which was a pleasure to the eyes to say the least.

"Geez, even the _toast_ tastes great here.." I said with my mouth somewhat full, a feeling of satisfaction warming me inside. The feeling was short lived however, as a memory crossed my mind.

 _"BECAUSE YOU DON'T **BELONG** HERE!!!" _

As the quote appeared in my mind, a feeling of small disgust and slight rage built up in my stomach.

"...home.."

"It _is_ a sight to behold, isn't it?"

I instinctively jumped away, combat rolling before landing in a crouched position, my hand drawn to where Avalon normally would've been on instinct. In front of me, standing next to where I was seated, was Professor Ozpin, with a steaming mug in one hand, and his cane in the other. _'How did--? I didn't even notice him!'_ I briefly thought in alarm. After a moment of mentally collecting myself, I sighed before standing up and walking towards my previous spot.

"Yeah, the view's great. Food's even better, if you ask me though." I commented jokingly as I sat down before taking a drink out of the glass of orange juice that was set on the ground next to me, "You've got a good thing going here, Professor.."

"I'm glad you approve. It's always a joy to hear that students are becoming well acquainted with their surroundings while here. Especially this early in the school year."

"Speaking of students, that just reminds me of the pickle I'm in. I'm not exactly a 'holding the reigns' type of guy, you know.." I said, letting my body slump slightly as I sighed.

"You don't see yourself as fit to be in a position of leadership?"

"Well, I'm not sure I'd go _that_ far...I'm pretty sure I can do it if it's a last resort, when there's no other choice..but not as a primary job...I think it's more that I'm the type to come up with a plan _for_ the one in charge, not _as_ the one in charge."

"Ah, so you say you lean more towards the role of a strategist rather than a leader?"

"..yeah, that sounds about right.." I said, exhaling lightly while running a hand though my hair.

"Yet many great leaders have been noted to have been quite exceptional strategists themselves. And surely you don't mean to imply that you are weak offensively? Because from what I saw during the Initiation, I believe the ship for that statement has already sailed. Wouldn't you agree?" Ozpin asked with a smile on his face before taking a sip of his coffee.

I remained silent, slowly pondering his words, admittedly a little frustrated. Not with necessarily just with myself, but rather, with Ozpin too. Frustrated at, to some degree, how _right_ he was. I can handle myself in a fight, and I'm damn good at coming up wth plans, if I do say so myself.

But still...somehow I feel like I'm sitting in a chair someone else should be in..

Or maybe I'm supposed to be in it and I just don't know it yet? Maybe I'm not confident enough?

...ugh, this is _not_ how I wanted to spend my morning before classes. Stressing out? I feel like I'll get enough of that once Port's class sta--

...WAIT A MINUTE

"Uh, Professor?" I asked a little nervously, the Professor simply humming lightly in response, "you wouldn't happen to know what time it is, would you?"

"Hmm...it's currently 8:57, Mr. Brenin." And with that, I immediately dashed off to Port's class, leaving behind the empty glass of orange juice as I had one lone thought on my mind:

 _'SHIT!!'_

 _ **-0-0-**_

"Monsters! _Deeeemons..._ Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as _prey_!Ha-ha!" Port monologued, much to most of my team's boredom. Throughout the Port's monologue, Violet was busy reading a book on chemicals, and Aoko and I were paying attention, although for different reasons. She was genuinely trying to pay actual attention, though I was just acting more as the one to alarm Violet and Jin if Port decided to direct his attention towards us.

Speaking of whom, Jin was currently seated with his forehead planted onto the desk, light snores emanating from him. And it isn't like we were the only ones struggling to pay attention to Port's tales of _adventure_. Team RWBY's leader was busy with her head propped in her hand as she took a quick nap, until she got woken backup by one of Port's bad jokes, which got the response of an almost silent room, if not for the cricket-noises.

"Uhhhh...and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." Port added with a wink aimed to Yang, who groaned uncomfortably, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the _very world_!"

"Ah! Corn! Fight?..." To my surprise, and even slight shock, Jin had suddenly woken up, a little bit of drool present on the left side of his mouth. The class remained silent, everyone looking directly at him.

To my surprise though, Jin didn't seem to care, to the point where he even let his head fall back onto the table, his immediate slumber evident as the light snores came back.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man...Me! When I was a boy..."

"Nilo." I heard Aoko whisper to me, "you're not going to wake him up?" She asked with a slightly raised brow, nodding her head over to Jin, still fast asleep.

"What? Why? Don't tell me you still think he's a 'liability'.." I finished with my eyes slightly narrowed, a look to which Aoko responded by lightly shaking her head.

"No, of course not. He already made that _plenty_ clear during the initiation." Aoko said, "I just mean that he'll miss everything that Port's talking about."

"Don't tell me you're _into_ his stories?" I asked with my brow raised a little higher, Aoko furrowing her brows in the form of a frown in response.

"What? No!" She exclaimed in a whisper, "His stories are, to some degree, a bit boring. But the _lessons_ are worth hearing. Especially considering that he knows more than we do, since he's a professional Huntsmen."

"She's got a point there." I heard Violet speak up, quietly though, her eyes still locked on the pages of her book, "want me to do it?"

"Uh, su--wait, not yet!" I interrupted myself, raising a hand lightly, signaling for her to wait.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" I heard Port ask, as I silently thanked my..gift.

"I do, sir!" Weiss replied in an angry tone, though not directed towards Port.

"Well, then, let's find out!" Port stated before turning to gesture a pair of glowing red eyes, surrounded by shadow, shaking the cage tha--

...wait, when? When and how?!

"...ok, _now_ you can do it." I said after finally breaking out of my silent shock. Violet clapped her hands together lightly, and slowly moved one flesh finger closer and closer to Jin's back, the tip of the finger crackling slightly with electricity. Eventually, the finger made contact, causing Jin to suddenly shoot up.

"AH! SON OF A--!!!" Jin almost finished, but didn't, as he then fell off his chair and onto the floor.

"...can I do that again?" Violet asked with a small smile.

 ** _-0-0-_**

After a few minutes of waiting, during which I had to hold Jin back in orde to stop him from fighting Violet, Weiss reentered the room wearing her combat attire and with her rapier in-hand, readying it at the creature, most likely a Grimm, in the cage.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang cheered as she raised her fist.

"Fight well!" Blake contributed as she waved a small flag saying "RWBY".

"Yeah, represent teeeeam RWBY!" Ruby cheered, causing Weiss to lower her sword and look over at her leader.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss complained, causing Ruby to become sheepish as she apologized.

"Allllright!" Port exclaimed, standing next to the cage, pulling out his axe, "Let the match... _begin!"_

Port swung his axe down and broke the lock, dropping the cage door and revealing a Boarbatusk inside, which immediately charged at Weiss. She used her rapier to deflect its attack and rolled to the side, readying herself for its next move. The Grimm stood a distance away from its enemy, studying her.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting _that, were you?" Port asked._

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby called out.

Weiss sped towards the oncoming Boarbatusk, sticking her blade straight at its skull until they met, though her rapier was trapped in the beast's tusks. Weiss still hung on to the hilt, and was tossed around as she struggled to get the rapier back.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Port exclaimed.

"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby cheered in an attempt to be supportive, though the gesture was only met with a glare from Weiss.

While Weiss was distracted, the Boarbatusk turned its head and ripped the sword from her grip. Her rapier landed far away from its master, who was knocked back by the creature's tusks.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Port asked.

Weiss looked up just in time to see the Boarbatusk to charge again, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled and make it crash into a desk. Weiss rushed at her sword and slid to get it back in her hand.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" Ruby began, only to be interrupted as Weiss turned to her.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss snapped back, causing Ruby to gain a hurt look at her rebuttal. Meanwhile, the Boarbatusk lept into the air and rollec into a ball, spinning rapidly in the air and landing on the ground, consistently gaining speed until it launched itself at Weiss. It came closer and closer, but Weiss activated one of her glyphs, a blue-white one, and blocked the roll, leaping up into the now-black snowflake glyph and turning it blue again so she could drive the blade into the Boarbatusk's stomach. It squealed and fell silent, while Weiss gasped in relief.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Said Port. Meanwhile, Weiss stood up at attention from her exhausted position and Ruby continued to frown, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and...stay _vigilant_! Class dismissed!"

With that, Weiss briefly glared at Ruby and turned away, walking hurriedly to the exit past her teammates.

"Sheesh, what's with her?" I heard Jaune ask, causing me to sigh lightly in response.

"Well, she is a Schnee. Makes sense she'd be ice cold." Jin said in a somewhat bored tone. I was about to suggest something, but he quickly put his index finger up, silencing me, "and before you say it, no pun was intended there. That terrible schtick belongs to you and Yang alone, and I don't see anyone else copying it anytime soon."

"Should we get involved?" Violet asked, her ocean blue eyes finally leaving her book as they looked into mine, "I mean, I consider Team RWBY to be my friends...but I feel like this is more of a 'team' issue than a 'friend' issue.."

"I say we stay out of it." Aoko spoke up, "I agree with Violet that this is an issue with their team. Meaning it doesn't involve us, and we shouldn't try to get involved."

"...well, I could go either way, to be honest." Jin commented lazily, "Like Vi said, Team RWBY's my friends, but this is something they've gotta deal with on their own. Then again, technically you've got the final say, Mr. Leader." I internally grimaced slightly at the nickname.

"...well, I don't think there's anything left to say. So, guess it's decided then.." I said before standing up, "we stay out of it." My decision gained a head nod from the rest of my team before they all got up and we walked out of the classroom.

"Ozpin made a mistake." I heard Weiss comment coldly around the corner. I took a peak and saw Ruby looking dejected. _'God damnit, I already regret my decision...'_

"Hmm...now that didn't seem to go very well." I jumped from my spot, letting out a small sound of surprise as I did so. Near the spot where I previously stood was Ozpin, holding what I've come to assume are his two favorite items.

"Is she right? Did you make a mistake?" I heard Ruby ask, her sad voice alone making me feel like an ass for deciding not to help. Ozpin however, simply laughed slightly in response.

"That remains to be seen." Ozpin noted before turning and walking away, briefly glancing at me and smiling before leaving.

"...Jin." I finally spoke up, causing Jin to turn his head to me with a curious expression on his face.

"Yeah?"

"Go help her."

"I thought you told us not to help them sort out the problem their team's having?" Jin asked with a raised brow.

"As far as I'm concerned, Weiss's _attitude_ is their team's problem right now. Ruby's self-confidence with being a leader, however, is something a _friend_ can help her with.." I said before sighing lightly. What surprised me however, was the smile planted on Jin's face as he walked past me, though not before lightly placing a hand on my shoulder and nodding.

As Jin walked around the corner, I looked down at the floor briefly before sticking my hands in my pockets and walking away.

 _'I wish that I could help her...but I don't exactly have this whole thing figured out either...'_

 ** _-0-0-_**

 _\--Jin Tang Lung--_

"Yo, Ruby!" I called out to her. Ruby remained silent for a moment, seemingly in a daze, before finally reacting to my greeting.

"Oh! H-hey, Jin..!" Ruby greeted smiling, the forced cheeriness being upsettingly evident to me, "Did you enjoy the classes?"

"I slept through it." I commented with a shrug, "..well, _most_ of it, anyways..." I corrected with a slight grimace. I swear to god, I'm gonna make Violet _pay_ for that one. "..so, I noticed the Headmaster talking to you not too long ago. What was that about?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Oh..well, I asked him if he made a mistake about choosing me to lead my team, and..he said no...I think..?" Ruby addition of the question at the end made me laugh a little inside. _'Glad to see she isn't **too** depressed.' _

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" I asked with a raised brow and a light smile as I leaned against the wall, my arms folded and one leg crossing over the other.

"..I don't know..." Ruby forced out, "What if he's wrong..? What if he's lying? What if I mess up?! What if--?!" I cut off Ruby with a poke to her forehead with my index finger, causing her to go silent, seemingly having short for a second before finally snapping back to reality. "I..what just.."

"You wouldn't stop panicking, so I poked you. It's not good to stress out like that, Rubes. Otherwise, you'll look like a Grandma." I said, before gaining a grin, "Or worse--Weiss." I added playfully. There was a brief moment of silence that was broken when I exhaled lightly, "speaking of whom, I'm guessing this hit to your confidence somehow revolves around her?"

"..." Ruby's sad silence as she looked down at the floor was enough of an answer for my rhetorical question.

"I thought so. And I'm guessing now you don't feel like you deserve the position?" I asked. Ruby did nothing for a moment, only to nod a second later, "okay, got it...in that case, I want to you to do something for me Rubes." Ruby raised her head, giving me a curious lookc. A smile then crossed my face, "I want you to guess my Semblance."

"..huh?" Ruby said seemingly unconsciously.

"You saw my fight in the Emerald Forest, right? Meaning you saw me go toe-to-toe with the Tavros. And I want you to guess what allowed me to do it."

Ruby went silent for a few seconds, pinching her chin while she looked up at the ceiling, all the while I waited with a smug grin, but not worn on my face.

"Hmm...is it...Super Strength?!" Ruby asked in what seemed like a borderline accusation, pointing at me as she asked.

"Nope." I replied, exaggerating on the "p".

"Uh...Speed?"

"Nope."

"Enhanced senses?"

"Nah."

"Healing?"

"Ruby, that's just Aura and you know it." I replied with a raised brow and a smile, amused by Ruby's desperate guess.

"Agh, I give up!" Ruby exclaimed as she threw her arms into the air, "What is it?!"

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you." I said while laughing lightly. I took a deep breath, internally holding back the urge to laugh a little at the sight of Ruby leaning in a little closer in anticipation, "...I don't have one."

There is no amount of lien in the world that could equate to how much I love seeing the reactions that people show whenever I say that, _especially_ after they've seen me in action.

And Ruby's was no different, that fact being evident with Ruby blanking out for a solid ten seconds.

"...WHAT?!!" Ruby finally exclaimed, though the volume made me jump a little, "BUT--HOW--YOU WERE MOVING FASTER THAN _ME_!!"

"Mhm." I replied, still smiling, "you wanna know how did it?" Ruby nodded rapidly in response. "...I trained a _lot."_ Ruby gained a dull look, oozing with skepticism.

"Really?"

"Yep. I trained like hell to get where I am today. Almost died at least 10 times, but it was all worth it." I said with a satisfied exhale, "And tell me this Ruby--Do you think I can become a Huntsman?" Ruby seemed baffled by my question judging by her expression.

"Wha--yes! You can totally become a Huntsman!"

"That so? Glad to hear it. Especially since you're the first person who's ever said 'yes'." My statement made Ruby's eyes widen in surprise. I let out a sigh, looking upward as I continued to speak, "I don't feel like telling the whole story now, since it'd probably take too long...but to put it simply, I wasn't exactly given a lot of support when it came to my goal to become a Huntsman...actually, barely _anyone_ was willing to take me seriously, and it only got worse when I unlocked my Aura, but could never manifest a Semblance. I got called 'talentless' and a weakling, and it frustrated me to no end. Not because they were wrong..but because they were _right._ Lack of a Semblance aside, I couldn't, and still can't, use any kind of weapon without either throwing it far off into the distance, hitting myself, or shooting something I wasn't supposed to. I was a complete mess." I unfolded my hands and stuck both in my pockets, "After that, I decided to focus solely on hand-to-hand. And, wouldn't you know it, I was a natural at it.."

"That's great! So they stopped calling you names..?" Ruby asked with a shine in her silver orbs.

"Nah, they still did." I quickly replied, causing Ruby to pout. I then gained a toothy grin, "..but they sure as hell weren't calling me weak anymore." Ruby paused for a moment before smiling, "so, as for the moral of my story...let me put it this way--close your eyes." I said, Ruby taking a moment before closing them. "Ok. Now, imagine that feeling you're having, the lack of self-confidence in yourself as a leader, as a person." Ruby's face changed ever so slightly, with the slight furrows of her brows indicating her effort to use her imagination.

"...Ok.." Ruby commented.

"Good. Now, Ruby, before I tell you the last part, I want you to promise me something--and keep your eyes closed." I quickly added just to make sure. Ruby paused for a moment before nodding not lightly, "...promise not to tell Yang about any of this." Ruby's head tilted a little to the side, a look of confusion present on her face. She eventually nodded slightly hesitantly, "Ok...Ruby...tell the figure to fuck off." Ruby jolted back in surprise. So much surprise, in fact, that I had to rush over to her and cover her eyes. "Hey, come on! What'd I _just_ say about the eyes?"

"You want me to swear?! I-I can't! Yang would--!" Ruby went silent, likely remembering what I made her promise earlier, judging by the adorable angry pout she gave me, " _That'_ s why you made me promise?! A-and why do I have to swear?!"

"Believe me Ruby--while swearing can be less than helpful at times, there are occasions where doing so is downright _therapeutic_. And this, in my opinion, is one of them. So, you gonna do it or not?" I asked. Ruby paused for a few seconds, her internal struggle being obvious through the expression on her face. After a few more moments, Ruby took a deep breath and let it out.

"FUCK OFF!!" Ruby yelled out, her words echoing slightly throughout the halls. Admittedly, I felt a small feeling of pride in her actually built up within me as a grin crossed my face.

"Yeah, there you go!" I cheered, causing Ruby to gain a light smile after a few seconds. "So, how do you feel?"

"I...I feel...better?" Ruby said/asked, though I couldn't tell if she was asking me or herself. Either way, if she was feeling better, then I considered it a success, "but what was the point of that? I get that I feel a little better now, I think, but why?"

"Well Ruby, that's because, sometimes, when life presents you with obstacles, be it in the form of personal barriers, or people who try to push you down, you've just gotta tell those obstacles to, as you so cutely yelled, fuck off." I said with a grin, Ruby slightly pouting at my comment of her yell, "You get what I mean?"

"I...I think I do. Thanks, Jin!" Ruby said with a beaming smile. _'Ah, I missed that. Definitely suits her more.'_

"Anytime, Ruby. It's what friends are for, after all." I said as I extended a fist out to bump with hers. She bumped fists with me, marking the end of our conversation as we went our separate ways.

I stood in the courtyard, looking up at the sky, dazing off into the ocean colored view above, littered with clouds.

Blue...blue, huh..?

 _"Ruby's self-confidence with being a leader, however, is something a **friend** can help her with.."_

His words caused a smile to come to my face again.

 _'A friend...one my first, too...coming to this place is feeling like a blessing more and more as time goes by...'_

 **The End**

 _A/N: Dear god, this chapter took forever to write. But, in exchange for that, it's also the longest chapter I've written so far, so that's good! Hopefully I portrayed Ruby's character as accurately as possible, but I'm not 100% sure._

 _Additionally, this isn't related to the chapter, but I've also considered writing a couple other stories, maybe even making at least one of them connected to Team NAVJ._

 _Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! And hopefully I'll see you guys next chapter!...whenever that comes out. Peace out!!!_


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